Secret Keeper
by fanficfantasies
Summary: You'd think that once I found Camp Half-Blood that I would be safe and live an average demigod life. Well, I would have. If Percy didn't disapear and if these books would stop bugging me. What books? Just the Percy Jackson series... Set after TLO and before TLH. NOT EDITED, SERIES ON HIATUS!
1. When Cyclops Attack

**Authors Note**: **Hola! This is your brand new author fanficfantasies. Summery time!**

**This story is about a girl who makes her way to camp half-blood. A normal demi-god. But what happens to the girl who has read the PJO series? Read on to find out! Please review! No flames, or u will ruin it for all the other fans because I have low self-esteem, so if I get a flame, I'll probably stop writing.**

**Note: This takes place after TLO and slightly before TLH. Everything will happen in order.**

**Spoliers for the end of TLO!**

I was sitting outside the orphanage school house twitching my foot impatiently, trying to absorb the ending of the book I had been reading. Reading on my free time is very rare for me because I have dyslexia. Sitting still is rare for me because I'm ADHD. But for this particular book, I manage it. It's hard though, because I can only force myself to read for a limited period of time, and because I have to stop and review the information in my mind every few seconds. But within a month I managed to read the last book in the series I'm reading. It's called Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

I found it in the library at the school house. I know what you're thinking. Libraries are my nightmare, and I was only there because I had only one week to finish a project that was suppose to take a month. (Procrastinator, I know.) Anyway, I was there and I pulled out a book on Greek mythology. The project was on a war, so when I found the book I decided I could use the Trojan War. But someone else already had it for a project. So I went back to return a book and in the exact spot the Greek mythology book was, was a book titled _The Lightning Thief. _Next to it was a list of all the other books in the series. I went to the librarian and asked if any copies were for sale. (The orphanage is small compared to most so our library doubles as a book store.) Since there was I bought the series.

My project was on a war in the book called the Titan War. I got an A+ for creativity. (I'm hardly a participant in class so to them it was a good thing I tried. They even ignored the fact that the war was fake.) Ever since then, even though I hate reading, I've been obsessed with the Percy Jackson series and all Greek mythology. I've spent every dime I have buying Greek mythology books and all of my spare time reading.

At times when I wonder, like today, why I like Greek mythology so much I think back to the beginning of The Lightning Thief.

_Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood._

_If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life._

_Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways._

_If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened._

_But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before_ they_ sense it too, and they'll come for you._

_Don't say I didn't warn you._

The strange part is I did. I did recognize myself. Most of the kind of things that happened to Percy happened to me too. Like once I was sitting in front of the orphanage's principles office while he was talking to my dorm adviser about a stunt I had preformed earlier that day. I was bored out of my mind, so I started twirling a leaf in my hand. I don't know when it started, but I found myself stareing at a leaf that was changing color, then shrinking into a bud, growing, and then changing color again. It just kept going, like the seasons were changing. I started to get a head acke watching it, so I threw it to the ground and tried to convince myself I was daydreaming.

Another time when I was about eight, I saw... this _thing _with one hundered hands was running down the street chucking rocks at something off in the distance. I told the teacher, but she told me it was just my imagination and to focus on my math problems. I tried to show her it, but it wasn't there anymore.

So after school that day I snuck out to see if I could find it. I ran around town for a little, but I did find it. It wasn't an it anymore. The 'it' was two boys. A chubby one was holding a skinny one on its shoulders. They were both holding eggs in there hands, their faces trained on a wall covered in egg yolks. I knelt down to pick up an egg so I could join them, but I got the worst growl from the skinny one that I've seen in my life. I high tailed it out of there.

In other words, strange things had happened to me, along with the almost tingleing feeling I felt reading that passage. But I kept reading. And I don't think that's going to do me any good.

I'm Cathy. Cathy Robingale, the crazy, ADHD, dyslexic, nuisance of a girl. It's a strange last name, I know. But I'm a strange girl. At twelve, I'm the oldest one at the orphanage. Soon I will be sent to an special orphanage just for teenagers. All the adults stay it like it's a good thing, but it's just the place that all kids who aren't adopted go. The rejects. It's like a prison for life. Well, until I get a job. But still, I'm not looking forward to it.

_OK, at the end of the book, Percy wins the war by having Luke kill himself; then Percy goes back to camp; Rachel gives the next Great prophecy; Percy goes back to the real world for another year; then the end._

For some reason it didn't feel like the story was over.

Just then I heard a loud rumbling noise followed by shouting from the teacher. My thoughts kept me paralyzed for a moment, but then I looked up.

Everyone in the neighborhood was running around in panic. Cars were tipped over and the roof of someone's house was on fire. Screaming filled the air. Among them was the teacher's scream, shouting at us to go into the classroom. Immediately all the little ones obeyed, trampling in like frightened mice.

"A gorilla!" someone shouted.

I looked in the direction of the screaming and did see a gorilla. It was going wild, tearing down houses, stomping on cars, sometimes the feet got so close to someone I was surprised they were still alive.

But then my vision started to flicker. Sometimes I saw a gorilla, then a giant beast. This happened for so long I was beginning to make me dizzy when the gorilla disappeared completely and a monster was in its place. But I recognized the monster. It was a Cyclops. The Cyclops was holding a telephone poll trying to smash a boy.

The boy. He looked so familiar. Black, windswept hair, sea green eyes, the sword with a bronze blade…

Then suddenly everything clicked into place. I don't know how my brain reached this conclusion, but I knew it was true. The books didn't lie. The Greek gods exist, the war did happen, there is such thing as demigods, the war did happen, monsters do exist, the Mist is real, Percy exists..

And I know that because he's the boy fighting the Cyclops.


	2. 1 Good Idea And Several Stupid Moments

**Authors Note: I was so sorry about the cliffhanger that I wrote the second chapter before I put up the first. Hope your enjoying the story.**

**Wait, I need to apologize in advance. I have a very hard time writing in the same person/tense. I always skip from 1st person to 3rd person, past tense to present tense… Anyway, I know this is a problem, so if you can't understand something just ask.**

**Disclaimer=I do not own PJO or any quotes I use from there. Rick Riordan own the awesomeness.**

I knew I had to do something.

So I did.

As fast as I could, I ran over to the orphanage. I dashed to my room and packed my back pack. I only packed necessities except for all of my Greek mythology books, and a small little trinket my parent gave to me. (Yes, parent as in one.) I stopped in the kitchen to get two kitchen knives and some food.

_Celestial bronze is the only thing that kills monsters, but hopefully kitchen knives will faze them._

At this point the only reference I had was the books. But for some reason I was sure they were right. So as fast as I could, I ran out of the orphanage, dodged the screaming people, and made it to the Cyclops. And Percy.

"Now, son of the sea god, you shall die by the hand of Phericlies, the most feared Cyclops of the land!" **(A/N I know, the name sucks and it's not Greek at all. I just new many Greek names started with 'ph' so I just typed random letters. If it's a real name please let me know.)**

I had to react fast. Percy was about two seconds from being a shish-kabob. Even if I threw him a knife, he wouldn't be able to fend off the Cyclops's attack. He was obviously tired, to tired to fight any more.

_He's just to tired._

Instantly I had a great idea.

I ran to the nearest hose, tugged it from the house, and attached it to a fire hydrant close to Percy. Then I turned the water on. I could see Percy's strength returning. Now all I have to do is keep the Cyclops busy. Time for a distraction that will probably kill me.

I ran and jabbed one kitchen knife into the back of the Cyclopes' knee. He screamed and turned around. I used the opportunity to yank the knife free and restab him in the shin. When he twisted around I lost the knife. It whirled over to a gutter and fell in. Just my luck. But I continued my distraction.

"Hey!" I shouted forcing my voice to not shake. "You don't want Percy! You want me!"

At the mention of his name, Percy lunged forward and thrust his sword through the Cyclops's chest.

"No!" he shouted as he dissolved.

We both took a minute to catch our breath. Then Percy asked "Did you see the gorilla?"

I could tell it was a test. "What gorilla?" I replied.

Then he grasped my arm like lead and pulled me along with him as he descended the hill the orphanage rested on. At first I tried to slide out of his grip. But it was obviously wasn't working.

"Percy-" I started.

"How do you know my name?" he asked. Well that shut me up.

_I can't let them know. I just..**can't**. I'll just have to pretend to be surprised. And to not have any idea what they're talking about. And I'll have to shut up…_

I don't think I can do it. But unless I want to tell them…

"O, goddess except my offering." I heard Percy say.

Suddenly I noticed the rainbow Percy made with a hose and a funnel. Percy tossed a coin—oh, golden drachma, right—into the rainbow.

"Half-blood hill!" he shouted into the rainbow.

The result sent me stepping backwards until I almost hit the concatenate ground. The shimmering rainbow changed until it seemed to be a mirror. But instead of showing our reflection, it showed a boy training. He had a black sword and a black sweatshirt on. He had brown hair, and brown eyes. I took me a while to pin the name. It was Nico diAngalo. **(A/N I don't know if the description is correct; I had to do it by memory. If it's wrong, please send me in the correct description and I'll change it. Other than that, this is what Nico will look like for the story.) **

"Nico!" Percy shouted. "Shadow travel for two." He smiled like there was some joke I didn't know about.

_Great, at least I can say Nico's name, _I thought. _Wait, shadow travel, why do I think that's ba—_my thoughts stopped there. I didn't remember what shadow travel was until Percy gripped my arm and we started.

Shadow travel is that thing Nico always did with Percy. In the series it always seemed as a minor thing. But it wasn't the moment I was pulled into it. It was a dark, black void that manages to swirl enough to give anyone a headache. When I fell out the other side I couldn't see straight. I found my head cocooned in soft grass.

Wait, grass? I tried to stand up, but found my self still a little woozy. A hand came down to help me up. I think it was Nico's. It took me a moment to get my eyes and breathing fixed. Then I looked around to where I was.

It was unmistakably Camp Half-blood. We were standing by the strawberry fields. It was beautiful, with lush green grasses, and blooming strawberry vines. Bugs were soaring in the air, bees dotted wildflowers near-by. I could probably snuggle up and stay there forever.

Then my gaze shifted. We were close enough that I could see the Big House's weather vane. Slightly to the left of that were the cabins. It was just like described in the book.

_There were twelve of them, nestled in the wood by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I had ever seen._

_Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was impossible to look at. They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed)._

_In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick._

I turned my attention to the head of the field.

_The two cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and –her mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that the different angle lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks._

Zeus' and Hera's cabin. I just barley caught a glimpse of cabin three.

_It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor…_

…_I caught the salty sent of the interior, like the wind on the shore of Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely…_

It was exactly the same as the descriptions, except there were many more cabins. I remembered how at the end of the last book, how Percy made the gods promise to claim all their children. That must be all the kids of the minor gods cabins.

I stopped staring when Percy and Nico both pulled at me.

"Come on, you can see more later," they promised. "We will explain everything."

They took me in to meet Chiron. I braced myself, but still ended up with my mouth open in shock when I saw him. It just looked so differently in person than in your mind. Chiron in his shaggy, white, horse form took the breath out of me. Percy led me over to a chair, and then went and whispered something into his ear. I hadn't sat down, so as soon as Percy left he asked me too. Well he asked, but it was like an order.

He explained everything about being a half-blood that I was supposed to not know. The gods, Western civilization, life at camp, etc. Basically I just sat through a lecture like at school, except I tried to keep a faced of disbelief on.

I did slip once though. He was beginning to talk about the war when I mumbled "The Titan War?"

"What?" Chiron had asked.

"Nothing." I grumbled. But I was thinking: that was close. You see, the really dumb thing about ADHD (and this is only for me) is that everything I think comes out of my mouth. Seriously, do not tell me a secret. I knew I wouldn't pull this off if this kept happening.

When he was done he said, "You have the least questions of anyone I've ever explained this to." He was right, I didn't ever ask a question. About anything. It was mostly because I had already decided to believe.

I tried to fix Chiron's suspicion. "Where's Mr. D.?" I blurted out. Then I realized Chiron didn't mention him. I tried to make up and explanation. "Percy and Nico told me about him, and I wanted to know where he is." I was a horrible lie because if he was suspicious he could just ask them and my lie would be found out. But it was the best I could think of at the moment.

Chiron looked deep in thought but answered, "After the Titan War, he was welcomed back to Olympus as long as he comes back down once a mouth to check on things."

"Where am I going to stay for the night?" I asked, eager to get out of there.

"Percy has offered to let you stay in his cabin for the night."

I almost said 'wouldn't I be staying in Hermes?', but I stopped myself. This was harder than I thought.

"OK," I really said. "Lets go."


	3. Awkward Conversations And Strange Dreams

**Author's Note: Hola! Thank you BeccH-BoOK LuVeR for your review(my first review ever!:)! ) Any other readers need to send in a review so I know your reading. BeccH, I am fufilling your request. Let Ch 3 begin!**

**Note: I made up the way the Posiedin cabin looks. This is not what Rick's looks like. **

I was staring at the wall of cabin 3. It was embedded with coral chunks, like the book said. The door was rippling with waves. It looked as if they were crashing against the grains of sand that adorned the north wall. I was laying on one of the bunk beds hanging from the wall by chains. It was surprising how blue and green the chains were.

It was late at night, but I couldn't sleep. I got to cabin three without arousing any more suspicion (Thank God. Or gods.) I unpacked everything I needed for the night, which consisted of pajamas, a tooth brush, and toothpaste. I took a shower because I needed one, and because I didn't want to give Percy a chance to question me. At least I was free to think.

_A half-blood, _I thought. _I can't believe it. Well, I can. It's been proven it's true. But why _me_? Of all people, I have no idea how it could be me. And who's my godly parent? I don't even have a gender limitation because I've been in an orphanage as long as I can remember. It's not like it's obvious. I have a big mouth, trouble reading, a horrible time keeping secrets… I will never be able to guess my godly parent at this point. I'm not a good fighter like children of Ares, can't control water like children of Poseidon, no good with lightning bolts like children of Zeus…_

I was awoken from my thoughts when I realized I was running my hands along the silk in anxiety. I tried to lull myself to sleep counting how many times I did it.

_1-2-3-4-5-6…20-21-22-23-24…_

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I silently climbed out of bed and searched underneath the bed for my backpack. I brushed my hand against the books to be sure they were there. Then I dug into the pockets until I found what I was looking for. My good luck charm. A flower.

I know what your thinking, how did it stay alive this long? Well it didn't. It's not a living flower. It's a gem. A flower carved out of a blue gem. It was carved so delicately that it looked like a rose. In the deep blue of a gem, if you looked closely, you could see the faintest tints of green, purple, gold, silver, red, and basically every other color of the rainbow. The stem was a chocolate brown, and there were no thorns, just a prickly looking leaf that on the edges was really as smooth as a butterfly's wings. You'd think it was a real flower, except for the part that it's a gem. Holding it, it feels like there's a heart beat.

I had just lifted the flower to my check when I heard Percy's voice.

"Can't sleep, huh?"

"My mind's moving to much." I told him. It wasn't a lie, just a wrong implication; I wasn't thinking what he thought I was.

"Yeah, it's a lot to process on the first day." Percy reassured me.

"It's just to much to wrap your mind around." I honestly said.

It was silent for a while. Then Percy asked, "How did you know my name?"

I knew this question was coming for a while now. "You look like someone my friends were gossiping about at school. I'm surprised that Percy was the right name." I hope that's a good enough lie.

"It will be better tomorrow." Percy said. "I know it."

_That's a lie._ I thought going to sleep. _That's a big lie…_

_I was in a large, gray throne room. Everything was black, white, or gray. There was a tall throne of bones in the center of the room. Someone was sitting on the throne wearing a large black cape with a helm sitting next to them. Sitting next to that throne was a pink and black chair were a girl was sitting. She was wearing a long, pink dress with small seeds imbedded into it._

_I was standing in the middle of a large blue mat that covered the floor. I looked like I was six or seven years old. I was looking toward the mysterious man on the throne. He made a gesture with his hands, and then I got in a battle position. _

_Suddenly two skeleton people with knives started running toward me. I didn't freak out though. I punched one where his stomach should be and dodged a knife from another. The one I hit turned into a pile of bones. The other one got disarmed and hit in the sternum. _**(A/N if you don't know what that is it's a bone centered directly under your chin and in-between your ribs)**_ You'd think they would have reformed, but they stayed crumpled on the ground. A few other came, but I easily defeated them. _

_After I was done, I could see the girl and mystery man clapping, but I couldn't hear any thing. Then I went over to them and bowed. Mystery man nodded and the girl handed me something and wrapped my fingers around it. It was hard to recognize in the gray I was seeing but it looked identical to my rose._

I woke up only to be blinded by the bright light coming in the window. Percy must have gone to breakfast, because he wasn't in the room. I uncurled myself from the cocoon I had in the sheet and found myself sweating. I gently placed my lucky flower on the dresser and went to put on my Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and sweats. I could hear the campers heading to the mess hall outside.

Time for my second day. Lets just hope I don't mess it up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Hi friends! I hope that you guys like my story so far. I'll keep writing, but I NEED REVIEWS! It's the only way I know you're reading. The more reviews I get the faster I write… This is Cathy's second day at camp.**

"Time for training!" Annabeth squealed.

She just finished leading me on the tour of the camp, which I was happy to be finished with. Percy introduced me to her yesterday. It took all my willpower not to say here name as soon as I saw her. Annabeth seemed really interested with my hobbies, interests, and reactions of the camps scenery. Trying to guess my Olympian parent I guess.

We finally arrived at our destination. I was surprised that it was only a patch of dirt outside of the arena. There was a boy camper with a leather jacket over their Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. It must be a son of Ares. There was a girl next to him that was repeatedly dabbing make-up on her check. Probably a daughter of Aphrodite.

Annabeth got me a sword and told me how to use it. Then she used her sword to draw a circle in the dirt.

"These are the rules." Annabeth stated. "The object of the training is to chase the opponent out of the circle. No maiming. And Case," she paused to look at him, "go easy on her."

We both stepped into the circle and the fighting started. Case swung at my feet. I managed to avoid the sword, but I couldn't counter attack. He paused so I could swing, but I couldn't move the sword. So my brain decided to change strategy.

The first thing I did was drop the sword and push it out of the circle with my foot. Then Annabeth gasped as I moved into the fighting position I held in my dream.

Chase swung at my feet again, but this time I dodged to the side and punched him in the shoulder. His sword whistled through the air toward my heart. My HDAD kicked in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Annabeth draw a knife and run to my aid.

But I surprised everyone by jumping up, rotating to the side and using my feet to redirect the sword so it was thrust over Chase's shoulder and out of the circle. I landed with my back to the ground and used my position to trip Chase. I jumped up as he hit the ground. But Chase was up in seconds by having used his hands to push himself up like you would do a push-up. My reaction was to kick him in the chest. The blow pushed him to the dirt inches outside the circle.

Annabeth was staring at me like I just grew two heads. "How in the world- that style of fighting- was that martial arts?"

"Yeah." I lied. "I took classes at the YMCA before I came here." It was surprising how fast the lie came out.

Annabeth nodded her head but she was frowning. We went out side and started walking around camp.

"What do we do now?" I asked Annabeth.

"You can do any of the training activities the camp has to offer." Annabeth said absent-mindedly.

"Why are you staring into space?" I queried.

"No reason."

I sighed.

"OK, it's because, well at the end of the Titan War everyone was exited that there wouldn't be anymore violence for a while. But then Rachel, our oracle, told us the next Great Prophecy."

_Seven half-bloods shall answer the call/ To storm or fire the world must fall/ An oath to keep with a final breath/ Foes bear arms at the doors of death._

"The prophecy is about seven half-bloods. So ever since the war has ended we have been looking for the seven half-bloods by monitoring the new half-bloods abilities. And it just is kind of strange that you happen to know martial arts…"

I wasn't listening. The prophecy was just bouncing in my head. _"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call/ To storm or fire the world must fall/ An oath to keep with a final breath/ Foes bear arms at he doors of death."_

Then I realized that I had said that out loud and that Annabeth heard it. She was about to drag me into the Athena cabin when I dashed away to the only sanctuary I could think of before she could question me. The fields I saw when I first arrived at camp.

Soon I was hidden from sight by long fern leaves and wild flowers. There were stepping stones, but I had hidden myself far away from those on a patch of grass. I was twisting a stalk of grass in-between my fingers thinking pretty thoughts. You know, trying to. I was staring at the clouds trying to make them take the shape my mind wanted them too. It wasn't working.

Then I heard the music. Beautiful music that filled the garden with a bright, cheery atmosphere. I could see birds flying in the direction of it. I stood up and made my was over to the beautiful noise.

I found myself walking into the forest. I didn't mind though as long as I was going towards the sound.

Soon I found a girl my age playing the flute. She had long, blonde curls that almost touched the ground. She was wearing a light pink and blue dress with a lace collar. There was an assortment of jewelry on her, but they didn't draw attention to her at all. You could almost believe she was an Aphrodite kid, but she was wearing no makeup, and the music was to good for an Aphrodite kid to make. The trills beckoned me closer with every note. Soon I was sitting next to the girl humming along with her. She jumped when she saw me.

"No, keep playing." I begged.

So she kept playing for a while. But eventually she ran out of songs, so we started talking.

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

"I'm Cathy Robingale. I heard your great music and I just couldn't stop myself from coming over."

She blushed and lowered her head. "It can't be that good," she insisted.

"Are you kidding? You could be the daughter of Orpheus."

"Well, I'm the daughter of Euterpe, the Muse of music. You?"

"Undetermined." I said.

"Oh."

"What should I call you?"

"You can call me Ilya."

I smiled. "Nice to meet you Ilya."

"Do you want to come to my cabin?" she asked.

I looked at the sky. The sun was going down. "Sorry," I replied, "I need to get some sleep. I'll have to be awake for training right? Don't want a stray knife to impale me while I'm not looking."

Ilya giggled. "Yep!"

"I'll see you tomorrow though. How about in the garden tomorrow afternoon?"

"Sure." she replied.

I reached over to give her bag to her. I spied some books inside of it, but before I could read the title, Ilya wrenched the bag out of my hands. It was almost like she was keeping a secret.

_Like I'm not, _I thought.

I went back to cabin three and got ready for bed. I held the my flower in my hands slowly trying to smooth it. Not like it could be smoothed.

I fell asleep to the sounds of Percy entering the door and climbing into his bed.

"Good night Cathy…"


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Whoever can guess the quote I got from The Lightning Thief gets a virtual brownie! **

I woke up the next morning and saw Percy was missing from his bed.

_He's just at breakfast,. _I thought.

But when I went to breakfast he wasn't there either. I walked the perimeter of the camp, but I couldn't find him. I even made a deathly run up the walk wall looking for him. He just wasn't anywhere.

Then I saw Annabeth. "Hey Annabeth!" I shouted, "Do you know where Percy-"

Annabeth grabbed my and dragged me into the Athena cabin. At a first glance the word that pops into your head is_ books_. On book shelves, on the floor, strewn against the beds, books galore. Then you notice the millions of bulletin boards with sticky notes covering them. The bunk beds were on two of the walls. A conference table was on the left of me. I heard the click of a lock and the sound of a dagger being unsheathed. No one else is in hear but us. Oh crap.

Annabeth was in front of the door twiddling her knife. "how did you know the Great Prophecy?" she asked. Her tone of voice demanded an answer.

_I need a lie_ fast. "Rachel told me yesterday, before we spoke." I replied.

"When did you get a chance to do that?"

"Um…"

Her eyes turned stone cold. "I thought so." Annabeth mused.

"Thought so _what_?"

She stared back at me with her cold, grey, calculating eyes. "Might as well confess. You will suffer much less pain." I could see her knife in a position for throwing. Hopefully not at me.

"_What the heck are you talking about?_" She was being so dang confusing.

"You," she pointed her knife at me, "must be one of the escapes from the Titan War. A spy sent to infiltrate the camp, and kidnap Percy to take him who-knows-where. You're afraid that Percy is one of the seven in the prophecy, so Kronos wants him for his own needs. You know the prophecy so you can be sure that Percy is really your target and his name so you can find him. Percy's gone and it's all your fault."

My mouth hung open. That was not what I was expecting her to say. If I can't defend myself, then they will… they'll kill me. Annabeth, Percy's girlfriend who's been on many quests and can solve any problem, against me, a girl with no training who just happens to know martial arts. Yea, I'm going to win this battle. Sure. I bet my looks confirming her suspicions.

"Chiron needs to know this," I heard her mumble. She was about to leave.

_I have two choices, tell about the books and start a civil war, or be accused of being a titan worshiper and having to flee camp or die. Both not good options._

I did none of the above though. I gripped her arm as hard as I could and asked, "What will I have to do so you will trust me?"

She glared at me. "Bring back Percy." She was half way out the door when she turned around and said, "Don't come back 'till you do." Then she started sprinting to the Big House, probably to tell Chiron of her newest discovery.

I ran of as fast as I could. I went to cabin three and packed my things. I made special care to put my books and my flower into my backpack. I was just about to leave when I realized that all of Percy's stuff was still there. I felt bad about stealing from him, but it's not like he could use it. I got a sack of ambrosia, a pouch of drachmas, and a envelope of US dollars from a drawer in his dresser.

I went over to pack my cloths when I uncovered the kitchen knives. I vaguely remembered wrapping them in an old shirt and stuffing them in my bag. But they weren't kitchen knives any more. They were a pair of blades made out of a mix of a bronze material (celestial bronze) and a black material (?). One hilt was silver, the other gold. Inlaid in each hilt was a gem. One was dark pink, like a pomegranate juice red, and the other pitch black. When I held the knives, it was like they were breathing.

Before I left, I decided to visit the gardens one more time. I sat there for a minute to let the sounds of the bird clear my head. It was just so peaceful here. I was there long enough for Ilya to sneak up behind me.

"Wow, that's enough stuff for weeks. Where are you going?"

I thought about keeping it a secret from her, but then I realized how scared I was. And how much I needed back-up. So I told her about what Annabeth had said and that I wanted her along. Well, I said that Annabeth wanted me to look for Percy and that I had to leave tonight.

She smiled. "Good thing you asked or I would have been forced to follow you. Just let me get my stuff."

In a few minutes we were ready to go.

_I just hope we find him. If we don't my secret might be reveled, the camp plunged into a civil war, Annabeth killing me, and much, much worse…_


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: I have a few things I need to say. 1) I think I forgot my author's note in the last chapter, and I'm sorry for that. 2) I've gotten some reviews about her secret. There are many secrets involved in this story, but the one I'm focused on now is that Cathy has read the PJO series, and no one else knows. She wants to keep it a secret because she doesn't want to start a civil war based on who let the book out to the mortals. 3) To answer BeccaH's statement, you have NO IDEA who her parent is. (Hint: It's not Hades…) Now, I hope I cleared this up a little. I'll just let you read now. Enjoy! Oh, and REVIEW.**

It's been a few days since we left Camp half- Blood. We silently agreed to go northeast. It was like some unknown force was pulling us there.

There was no monster attacks to this point, (who wants to attack a daughter of a muse and an undetermined girl?). Ilya and me were confining in each other, but I still haven't told her about Annabeth's conversation with me, or about the books. It's just… if she knows, she could just leave me stranded out here. Or not be my friend anymore.

Even though I didn't exactly know why we were going northeast, Ilya seemed to know and have a very good reason for it. So we spent the next two days going on multiple busses, cabs, trains, and even hiking sometimes. It was on the third day that Ilya led us to a high set of mountains.

"Were are we going? What's that?" I asked.

"It's the Adirondack Mountains." She cut my next question off, "We are going here to see if we can find A-"

A sound of giggling cut through her speech. We turned and looked up. There was a small girl in a brown dress giggling down at us.

"Hello young Oread!" Ilya shouted to the girl. "Can you come and help us please?"

**(Note: For those who don't know, Oreads are mountain nymphs.)**

The girl smiled and started to run over to a path.

For the first time I was able to ask questions and actually speak without worrying about giving something away.

"What are-"

I was cut off by the giggling of the girl next to me. Now, I have a dark personality, but this girl cheered me right up. She could only be six, but she had this air around her that made her feel like four. She had brown hair that was held up in a ponytail, and green eyes.

Gods, I just realized you don't have a picture of me yet. Well the girl was a bright sunbeam compared to my lopped short, stringy black hair, my depressing wear, like the dark blues and purples I like. In other words, the day you see me wearing red, pink, and yellow are the days a cloud sinks to earth. I'm surprised I'm even wearing the orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. The only bright thing about me is my eyes. I've been told they're as bright as the summer sun.

Ilya had a conversation with the Oread and then she darted up the mountains like she had wings. Ilya chased after her so fast that my lungs nearly burst trying to catch up to her. After what seemed like an eternity, we stopped climbing and stopped in a mountain cave.

I gasped at the sight. It was Apollo and the Muses having some sort of literature festival, well a literature festival mixed with astronomy and music. A few of the Muses were playing instruments while Apollo recited poetry. Apollo was wearing a bright yellow toga (Ick!) decorated with long, gold chains around his neck. All the Muses were wearing pink dresses, but they also had a second color blended in with it. They all had a crown of flowers around their head.

As I looked more I saw that each Muse had a table for their attributes. Standing by the table with the playwrights on it was a Grace and Aphrodite. The other two Graces were dancing to the music from the Muses. All the Graces were wearing long, white garments with one pearl sown in the top. Aphrodite was wearing a bright colored skirt, and a showy top that looped down toward her chest. She had little make-up on but radiated beauty to the point that it almost made me, whose motto on looks is 'if you don't like the way I look, go away', to come and ask her advice on make-up.

I glanced over at Ilya. Nobody had noticed us yet, and I was about to ask her what to do when Ilya pulled her flute out. She wordlessly put the flue up to her lips and played a breathtaking solo that ripped the grace of Apollo's poetry in half. Everyone turned to look at the girl who was making the music, who now had her eyes closed. I was so soothed with the music my mind felt muddled. The only thing I really recall was staring at Ilya's fingers, soaking the music in while trying to remember my name.

Eventually she stopped and opened her eyes. _Where are we? Who are these people? What's my-._ Suddenly everything rushed back to me like a wave hitting shore.

All of the goddess', and god, were staring at Ilya. Then suddenly one of the Muses said, "That was really good, daughter! Looks like you learned the Stun Song."

"Eyterpe, do you know this girl?" another Muse asked.

"I'm Ilya," Ilya bravely spoke out. "and you're my mom?"

"How did you get here?"

"Where did you learn to play like that?"

The voices came out of nowhere until the whole crowd was murmuring to each other.

"Stop!" Apollo shouted and all the whispers disappeared. "Ilya and Catherine," I flinched at my full name. "I've been waiting for you to come."

He stopped to whisper something to Aphrodite, who got a knowing expression on her face.

"I hear you are going on a quest, right?"

Ilya and me nodded.

"Well how about you stay for a little, enjoy some music, and then on can be on your was." Apollo offered.

Now, I was expecting the hotshot that was described in the Percy Jackson series. But this guy was better balanced and seemed like he meant no harm. Maybe it was the leadership affect of being by the Muses.

We graciously excepted his offer, and got a refill of mortal money, more ambrosia (there were _some_ monster attacks on the way here), and a great meal. Apollo even let us have some leftovers for our quest.

Soon we ended up sitting by the camp fire listening to the Muses sing and dance and the Graces narrate plays. They even did some plays I knew of, like the godly version of The Three Little Pigs, and the song Old McDonald Had A Monster. I was having a very good time, along with Ilya. Since the first time I came to Camp Half-Blood, I was having some fun.

Eventually the camp fire started dieing down and it was almost time to go set camp for the night. But Apollo insisted on one last poem.

"This is probably the most important poem I've ever made. Be sure to remember this carefully." I swear he looked me straight in the eye as he said that. Then he strummed is lyre and started chanting.

_Do you see?_

_I see._

_You will find the truth,_

_And find the friend_

_At Pacific's roots._

When he finished everybody clapped graciously. We were just about to leave when Aphrodite pulled me aside.

"If you ever need a disguise, just open this." She handed me a small palate with an cursive **A**on it. "It will turn you into your most beautiful opposite. Remember, you can only use it once."

I was about to ask why the heck she would help me when she floated way to talk to one of the Muses. I slid the palate into the same spot I kept my flower when Ilya came over.

"Ready to leave?" she asked me.

"Let's go." I replied.

I left thinking, _Why would Aphrodite and Apollo help me?_,and_, What the heck's going on at Camp-Half-Blood?_

**Another Author's Note: I need to know, do you guys want any romance? I feel that I should bring a guy into the story somewhere. If you guys want romance, then you have to tell me NOW. Also, do you guys want to know what's going on at Camp-Half-Blood? If you do, I could do one chapter in Annabeth's perspective and tell you. IF NO ONE REVIEWS, I WILL JUST TAKE IT AS A NO AND NOT ADD ANYTHING. Your reviews determine the future for poor Cathy. Bye. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Hi my fan fiction friends! Thank you to those who sent reviews, and to those who didn't, DO IT NOW. This is my filer-in and explanation chapter. Spoiler, it has a claiming!**

** In my last chapter I recall asking you guys a question. I'm sorry to say, no one answered, leaving the choice into my own hands. Now, I'm fine with that, but if you guys want your ideas incorporated into the story then you HAVE TO REVIEW! The next time I ask you a question, it will be important, so ANSWER.**

** OK, you may read now.**

It was the day after meeting the Muses, and after a night of trading off watches and dozing off, we were ready to move when the sun rose.

We had just finished packing up camp when we decided to wash up. We found a near- by lake to wash and change. When I was done, my outfit was soaked, and my back pack was hardly spared. Before we started to leave, I checked my bag for my flower, the books, and also the disk Aphrodite gave me. Feeling a sense of upcoming danger, I pulled out my knives and stroked them.

Ilya and me had started batting away the leaves and bugs from our faces. We were trekking toward a road that was defiantly ahead.

"It seems we are in the middle of one of the hiking trails that go through the forest by here." It makes sense, we do happen to be on a to-clear route. "Soon we'll be on the open road again."

"Yep" I said popping the P. "Time to travel some more. The question is where?"

"I think it was in the poem Apollo said." Ilya told me.

"Oh, you mean _Do you see?/ I see/ You will find the truth,/ And find the friend,/ At Pacific's roots._"

"How did you remember that?" Ilya asked flabbergasted. I inwardly cringed. The truth is that I had gotten a knack for remembering chunks of random mythology from the Greek myths while studying the Percy Jackson series. I committed the poem to memory in case it would help us on our way to Percy. I knew she would ask questions, and I would have to tell her my secret. But for now, I can use the information I got from the Percy Jackson books to help us with our quest.

"I think I know what it means." I continued, trying to seem oblivious to Ilya's gasp. "You know how it says 'I see.' ? I think it's 'I _sea_.' If that's true, Pacific's roots is obviously the bottom of the Pacific ocean. That's where Percy is."

"How do you know this?" Ilya queried.

I really know it because, well you know the random fact thing I was talking about? One of the random facts I know is that somewhere in The Lightning Thief they make a reference to something sinking to the bottom of the Pacific ocean. Knowing that, everything about the poem just seemed to line up with it. Also, something just _told_ me that Percy was there. I just know it.

Ilya opened her mouth to ask a question when there was a rustle from the canopy of trees beyond us. I was late summer, early fall, so when I swept my eyes against the trees I saw bright, vibrant reds, yellows, oranges, and even purples. It was strange; I usually felt safe in forests, not like trapped prey. But soon I saw what made the noise.

It was green, like puke green, with slime dripping off of it. You could hear it's hiss inside your head, as if it were trying to drive you insane, inside out. If you looked through the green goop covering the beast, you can see slippery looking green/purple scales. They look slimly, but lethal. It had scaly legs, like a dragon, and wings. I tightened my grip on the knives when I saw it's greasy, brown eyes looking into mine.

"What—should—we—do?" I slowly hissed into Ilya's ear.

"Stun, then strike." she told me. Like I'm supposed to know what that means!

"Ah, my friendsss, I've been waiting for you." It's voice hissed. "Daughter of Eyterpe, daughter of our under land queen. Prepare to sssee your downfall. Your death will be pleasssing to my misssstresss."

Suddenly I knew who it was. The Python.

The Python lunged toward me, brandishing claws I didn't know it had. I raised my dagger. Hearing the satisfying clang of claw to metal, I jabbed my dagger into it's slime. The stench of being so close to it was unbearable, but I pressed it inward. But the scales were stronger than I expected. It bounced off, throwing me off balance and into the grass and leaves, my shirt covered in slime.

"Don't worry, i't'sss ssstuning only. You won't die. Hopefully." The dreaded voice hissed.

Then the Python paused, like in a trance. The shriek of the Python sent chills up my spine. I looked up in time to see Ilya plunge a spear into the Python's tender wings. As it turned to face her, I leapt onto it and used my knife to stab it's thinner scaled underbelly.

I heard it hiss, "My missstresss will get you for thisss!" before the dust of it was carried away by some unseen wind.

As soon as I was sure it was gone, I looked down at myself. My Camp-Half-Blood t-shirt was splattered, no coated, with Python slime. My jacket was in slightly better shape because I had wrapped it around my waist before the attack. My backpack and all items remained untouched, except for my knives, which were splattered with Python slime.

Me and Ilya cleaned ourselves up before we continued to walk. It was easier said than done for me, because I was completely coated in the slime. Leaves from the ground stuck to the shirt like glue to the point where I just dove in an near-by river to clean up.

Despite our attire, soon Ilya and I were walking through the woods again, leaving me plenty of time to brood over my thoughts.

_Who is the Python's mistress?... What will I have to tell Ilya about the books?... Are we really going the right way?... What does Annabeth think of me right know?... Who's my godly parent?... Is finding Percy really possible?_

We popped out of the forest and onto the road at about noon. We ate a lunch of feast leftovers, leaving just enough for dinner. Then we used some mortal money to buy a car from a car dealership, and went off down the road.

Driving was, well, hard to say the least. Neither of us had a license, so we swerved a lot. Strangely, no one looked in our car window and noticed two unsupervised teens driving a SUV to who –knows-where.

Eventually we made it to an airport and purchased airline flight tickets for tomorrow. Some how, the ticket sellers saw Ilya as a 20 year old and me as 16. Our money would only take us to Chicago, Illinois, with not a cent extra in change. I kept telling myself that I'm not a daughter of the Big Three, so I have nothing to fear of flying.

_But what other reason has my godly parent not claimed me yet? _My brain would always reply. _The promise made after the Titan War said that_ _the gods would claim their children once they got to camp. Why not me?_

That shut my optimistic side up.

For the night, Ilya and I decided to stay at hotel. But who would take in children with no money? So we ended up staying in the backyard/parking lot of a dentists office close to the airport. Once we set up camp, we ate cold leftovers, finishing the platter off, and laid out what we were going to sleep on. For me, it was a tiny, old t-shirt bunched up like a pillow. We decided to keep watch, me for half the night, Ilya for the other half.

It was when we were laying on the 'cots' that I brought some of my questions up.

"Who do you think the mistress the Python was talking about is?" I sprang the question on Ilya.

"I don't know. Who was the Python friendly with?"

No one knew the answer to that one. So I asked another bothersome question.

"Do you think we are going the right way? I'd hate to end up on the other side of the US to find out Percy's close to Camp-Half-Blood."

"Well," Ilya responded, "I think your theory is as good as any. You seem to be natural at cracking prophecy's."

_Maybe my father's Apollo. No wait, I'm nothing like him._

"Yeah, I guess I am." _I need to avert attention from me as soon as possible. _"Hey, where did the spear come from?"

"Oh, it is my favorite weapon. It's a necklace that turned into a spear." Ilya took of her necklace off and it trace formed into a long spear with a celestial bronze tip. There are two small chains hanging from a gold bead hammered into the space below the spear-head. It was made of wood, but soft and smooth, like my flower. If you clip the chains together, it turns into a necklace again.

It was Ilya's turn to ask a question, but she stopped short and gasped. She was staring at me like I had two heads. I feverishly grabbed something that would count as a shiny surface and looked at myself. Floating right above my head was the symbol of a Pomegranate mixed with the Helm of Darkness. Persephone's symbol.

_This is unbelievable. I can't be a daughter of Persephone. I just can't._

I watched the symbol fade away into nothing. Ilya was still gaping at me. I never imagined myself as daughter of Persephone, it was always Athena, or even a minor goddess like Nike. **(A/N Nike is the goddess of victory) **Persephone is Hades wife. It's like being a daughter of the Big Three. I'm a forbidden child.

"How-"

I made a split decision. I need guidance and help, no matter what the cost to anyone else.

"Ilya, I think it's time I told you the truth."

**A/N Cliffhanger ending! You guys probably want to scream at me right know, but you will want to more after I tell you what's happening next. Since no one answered my question, I decided there will be a boy, and that the next chapter will be in Annabeth's POV and about Camp Half-Blood.**

**Please continue reading this story, my loyal fans.**

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	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey you guys! Did you like my parent choice? Let me clear some things up for reviewers. Yes, demigods have dyslexia; I said that in the first chapter. But what ever books Cathy gets, in this case the PJO ones, she reads them anyway. When ever she gets a Greek Mythology book, she always reads it, despite the dyslexia. Remember, this chapter is Camp Half-Blood. Read!**

Annabeth's POV

My knife speared through one of the camp's dummies. I was using training to occupy myself, and to keep my thoughts away from Percy.

_If only Chiron would let me go sooner. I can keep myself safe!_

I clarified these thoughts by creating the sickening ripping sound you get when one of the dummies hearts is slashed through.

_That's what I'll do to Cathy when I get to her…_

All I could think about was how it was Cathy's fault that Percy is gone. And of all the cascading events that happened after our talk in the Athena cabin.

**(Flashback time!)**

_I stormed out of the cabin, running to The Big House. I ran into the room, intruding a pinhole game. It was Chiron against Mr. D. and two invisible hands._

_Chiron looked frazzled when I charged in. "Annabeth, what's wrong?"_

_"It's Cathy," I said and then told him about her conversation with Cathy and her reaction to my theory._

_"Annabeth, although you are upset about Percy, I don't think you should blame Cathy." He continued when I almost started shouting protests. "But, it is highly unlikely this is a coincidence. We should at least ask her if she knows anything." _

_"Then get on with it," Mr. D. demanded. "Grover," my friend came out of the shadows, "go get Cathy. She's in the Poseidon cabin."_

_It was a minute before Grover came back._

_"She's not there, sir. All of her things were gone too."_

_"You don't think she, ran away?" I asked. _How could someone be so cowardly?_, I thought. _How could she have gotten away so fast?

_"No," Chiron said. "It's more likely that she went to find Percy."_

_"She couldn't of! She's not that stupid…"_

_But then I remembered my exact words._

"What will I have to do so you will trust me?"

I glared at her. "Bring back Percy."

_The gods, she's looking for Percy._

**(Flashback over!)**

But it was inevitably true that she was working for the Titans. How else would she have known the Prophecy? How else would she have known so much about demigods? Or Percy's name?

The whole camp was debating about it. You know, the Cathy thing was a secret, so naturally the whole camp knows about it. Some people, like the Ares cabin, were preparing for scouting missions and potential battles. Others, most of them being the more knowledgeable cabins like Athena and Demeter, were trying to devise a strategy and get Percy back before we engage in battle. There were even a few hopefully few, mostly the Hypos kids and some of the other minor gods/goddesses, thought there would be no battle at all, and where mindlessly going about camp business.

Chiron was refusing to even let me go look for Percy, never less search for Cathy. He keeps telling me to, 'relax and wait for all the facts to come in'.

_By the time I do that, Percy will probably be dead! No they won't kill hem, they'll torture him until the screams…_

I woke up when I heard a shriek myself. My eyes readjusted and I realized that my knife was just a few inches short of Thalia's face.

"Oh the god's! Thalia I'm so sorry! I was just so caught up in my thoughts…"

"It's OK Annabeth." Thalia replied. "I can tell you're worried about Percy."

I couldn't stand to think of Percy right now. "Why are you here?" I wondered aloud. "You should be with the Hunters."

"I was worried about you Annabeth," Thaila replied. I wanted to make sure you were all right."

_Well I'm not, _I thought. _A little bit to late for that._

"I can't just stay here and do nothing." I protested. "I can take care of myself. I don't understand why Chiron won't let me look for Percy."

"He's worried about you health, Annabeth." Thaila told me. "He is also afraid that you will try to seek revenge of Cathy." She paused and looked into my eyes. "That's not going to help you, Annabeth."

I sighed. "I know. I just can't stand doing nothing."

Thaila smiled. "Well you don't have to. I don't see why we can't do nothing, we just have to do something helpful."

"Chiron won't let me look for Percy; what else can we do?"

"How about we pay a little visit to Olympus?"

**A/N: Sorry for all the cliffhangers! I've been in a cliffhanger mood lately. At least I'm updating often!**

**Next chapter is back to Cathy. I decided that it is uncharacteristic for Annabeth to be doing nothing while her boyfriend is missing, so Annabeth an Thaila are taking an unplanned trip to Olympus. If it's cruddy, it's because I haven't planned it.** **Also, there will be romance soon, but not Percybeth. Review, Reread, and Enjoy!**

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	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: OK, back to Cathy! We left off were Cathy had decided to tell Ilya the truth, and Annabeth is going to Olympus with Thalia. I understand that there haven't been many monster attacks, and that some of you are craving action. There will be action, I promise.**

**Oh, the boy I promised to bring in is coming soon. Note: It's not Nico! I guess they are kind of step siblings.**

**Thanks for the reviews! If anyone is confused by the POV changes every other chapter, please tell me.**

**Read! **

Cathy's POV

"What!" Ilya stared at me. "I've been there since the Titan War! There are no books about him."

I reached into my backpack and pulled out the first book in the Percy Jackson series. For the first time, I wondered why the bag was so light when I was carrying things that would make it weigh a ton.

"Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief." I read aloud.

I handed it to Ilya and she started reading the first paragraph aloud.

"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood…"

"No!" I shouted and grabbed the book out of her hands. For some reason I felt that the book shouldn't be read aloud. Like something bad would happen if we did.

"What was that about?" Ilya demanded.

"Just… don't read it aloud." I handed the book back to her.

Ilya just ignored my fit of weirdness and started to look at the book. It took a while for her to skin through it, but when she was done she asked, "Why don't you tell Chiron about this?"

"It could cause a civil war." I replied.

"Yeah, but how?" **(A/N: I'm finally going to explain the civil war concept to those who didn't understand it.)**

"You see," I started, "these books are written in Percy's point of view. Percy has done many things for the camp. So if people thought that he wrote a book of his adventures and about Camp Half-Blood and sold it, sides would form. There would be the people that were with Percy 100% and can't believe that he would do any thing like that, for example, the Athena cabin. Then there would be people who thought Percy did and that he was a threat like-"

"The Ares cabin." Ilya finished for me.

"Yep."

"So the real question is, why you." Ilya clarified.

"Huh?"

"Didn't you ever wonder," Ilya thought out loud, "why you got the books and not somebody else? I'm just saying, maybe the Fates have something for you to do."

The conversation went to a dead end there. Ilya offered to take first watch, so I lied down on my t-shirt and closed my eyes.

_What have I got myself into, going out on this quest?_

3rd Person POV

The next day, Annabeth and Thalia were going to Olympus. Well, more accurately the Empire State Building. Annabeth and Thalia walked in and requested to go to the 600th floor.

"There ain't no 600th floor, girl. Now go home before you run into trouble." The man at the desk growled.

Before Thalia could stop her, Annabeth had her bronze knife at the man's throat.

"You _will _give us the pass we need to go to the 600th floor, and you will do it _now_." Annabeth calmly told the man.

So, in a matter of seconds, Thalia and Annabeth were going up the elevator to the 600th floor.

Annabeth was very nervous, for a reason she didn't know why, about her visit to Olympus. On the other hand, Thalia was glad Annabeth could take a course of action to find Percy, and thought that Olympus would be a great way to solve the problem.

So when they got to the top and found a steel door with an **O **on it blocking the way, they were both upset.

Annabeth ran up and banged on the door, but all she got for her effort was a automated message saying:

_Olympus is closed right now, but leave your name and IM number and we will be glad to notify you when we open again. If you want to speak to a life representative, press one. If you want to…_

Annabeth slammed her hand into the button on the door that said one, and said into it

"I need to talk to an Olympian god or goddess."

All she got in reply was:

_A representative is not available right now. If you leave your IM number we can contact you…_

Annabeth drowned the message out with a groan.

"Thalia, we're never going to find Percy now!"

Thalia, with a firm tone and a determined expression said, "We will find Percy, Annabeth. We will find him."

Cathy's POV

Ilya and I were trying to figure out how to get to the Pacific Ocean.

"Ok, so we don't have any money for a plane, train, car, or any other form of transportation. We also have no money for food, clothes, or a place to stay. What in the world are we going to do now?" I summed up for Ilya.

We had packed up camp, and were about to leave the city of Chicago, Illinois. Though, we were now at risk of being robbed by a homeless person or a gang, as well as a risk of running into any monsters The Fates decided to send to us. We knew we had to get out of the city, fast, especially because of all the technology. Whenever we walked past a computer store, we could hear the curses of the people who's computer's suddenly flicked off in the middle of their oh-so-important game.

"The fastest way out of the city," Ilya glanced up from a map she found on the side of the street, "is to go out this ally way here." She pointed at an ally way shaded in black with a marker. "It leads from the airport straight through the city out to the west toward the Pacific Ocean."

"The only thing we have to do is avoid monsters, technology stores, detection, and make it through the city without food, water, shelter, or protection before someone notices two girls traveling through Chicago without a parent or guardian." I replied with a sharp tone.

"Hey, I didn't say the Fates would be kind to us." Ilya replied, staring into the map.

"Well we're going to need some kindness," I said, "if we're going to make it out of the city alive."

We started, warily, walking down the ally. The only conversation was when Ilya would occasionally shout out things like "Turn right!" or, "Go down that straightaway there!" We were both listening carefully for any noise that could mean an attack. After the Python incident, we had learned to pay closer attention to tell-tale signs that there would be an attack.

We had entered the casino part of the city, you know, the part that had skyscrapers and bars and casino's that were all half full and old, broken down warehouses with shattered windows. We passed many empty shelled warehouses with glass shards littering the ground, but I stopped when I heard voices coming from one.

That one warehouse had chipped blue paint and a rotten wooden door that suggested that it once had been a changing room at some old attraction. There was only one window, with it being a changing room and all, but it was tainted so you couldn't see inside of it. I could just hear mummers coming from inside of it that made me feel inclined to check it out.

I motioned to Ilya and crept closer to the changing room. Somehow, even with the fall's new leaves layering the ground, I managed not to make a sound creeping across the old concrete. Ilya made many sounds, like the snapping of twigs, on her way over to me. I gestured for her to be quiet, then focused my attention to the words the words coming from the warehouse.

"Lets bring them to our mistress. She will love toying with their little minds before making them tear each other apart." A low, grave voice said.

"I say," a girl's voice said, "that we let them try to answer my riddles. And then when they fail, they can watch me eat their friends."

I recognized that voice as the Sphinx. A horrible lion/human female/eagle/serpent who eats people who can't answer her riddles. **(A/N: If you don't know where that came from, remember how I said that she read lots of Greek Mythology after reading the PJO series…)**

Finally, after a long lisping period where I couldn't make anything out, I heard.

"Let'ssph go to Gaia with our giftssph. She would like the demigodssph."

"Hey! Give me the eye!"

Then there was a long tussle for what must be the eye before the grave voice spoke again.

"So it is settled. We will leave immediately."

From what I had heard, the Sphinx and other monsters had demigods and that they were going to take them to Gaia, who in the Greek myths was the wife of Uranus and bore the titans. She did something else that I thought I should recall, but I couldn't seem to remember it. But I knew enough, she was the mother of the things we just had a war with, and that was enough for me to try to stop them.

I leapt over to the one with the deep voice, it happened to be the Minotaur, and stabbed it in the ribs before it could attack. Ilya jumped at the Three—Graeae is it? Well, it's the three shriveled up hags with only one eye and tooth—and used her sword to chase them away.

Then we both simultaneously turned to the Sphinx. She smiled at us evilly. Ilya gasped, probably along with me, when we saw the Sphinx slide her sharpened claws under a unconscious demigod's throat.

"If you can answer my riddle, I will let you, these demigods, and your friend life," she hissed at me, still smiling, "if you can't, I will make you watch your friends and these demigods die, then I will eat you myself."

The Sphinx loved the shock on my face. All I could think is, _If I don't answer this riddle right, me and my comrades will die. And it will be all my fault._

"How about I give it to you now." The Sphinx grin spread even wider as she spoke.

"There are two doors, one is blue, one is red. One leads to life, and one leads to certain death. You don't know which is which. The doors are the only way out of a room you are stuck in.

"There are two guards, one is on the left and one is on the right. One is a lying guard that always lies, one is a truthful guard that always tells the truth. You don' t know which is which.

"You are aloud _one_ question to ask _one_ guard to help you find figure out which door you want to go out of. So what question do you ask, and to which guard, the one on the left, or the one on the right?

"I'll give you until sunset to figure out your answer, Cathy. Remember your lives depend on it."

The Sphinx grinned evilly once more, and sat down next to the unconscious demigods, her claws at the ready.

**A/N: Any one who can figure out the answer to the riddle will get to have a question answered, even if it's a spoiler! Review, and try your luck!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hello all my readers! I need to recommend a _marvelous_ story I read. It's called A Dance With the Devil, and it's a Harry Potter crossover story. This is the summery: _When you break and enter, you expect people to call the police, not point sticks at you… _It's a _really, really, really, _good story and I urge you to read it. Oh, and author of said story, if your reading this, Free Advertising!**

**Don't worry, my story will only have a dab of romance, not to much. I'm not very good at the romance stuff, but it really spices up a story.**

**Now read!**

Cathy's POV

It was about an hour to sunset, and Ilya and I were banging our heads on the wall trying to find out the answer to the riddle. I was literally banging my head on the wall, giving myself a massive head ache. Ilya wasn't much better. She was sitting on the ground with her head in her hands. Neither of us could think of an answer. We had discussed attacking, but me ruled it out as to risky, because at any given moment she could just slit the demigod's throat and kill them, and we didn't want to take that risk. So we had to try to get an answer to the riddle.

But we're demigods, for the gods sake. Solving riddles is like telling us to push a elephant into the pin of a needle! We both suck at it, and we basically accomplished nothing between then and now.

I decided to stop banging my head on the wall before I became unconscious. My head spinning, I eased myself to the floor, and allowed myself to close my eyes. _Maybe it will get me out of this nightmare._

I closed my eyes and looked into the blackness it provided. It was kind of relieving to close my eyes and imagine I wasn't about to die.

Slowly, like an image surfacing above water, a man came into view. He looked like a collage professor, with a lab coat on and jeans. He was holding a guitar the way Apollo would hold a lyre. As the image got less fuzzy, and I could see he had unruly blonde hair, and had written on his lab coat.

No wait, he hadn't written on it, letters were arranging themselves. English, Spanish, and something that looked like a mixed up version of Chinese were swirling around like trapeze artists on the high wire. There was also something else on there to, but when ever I tried to look at it close up, it blurred to I couldn't read it.

_This guy must be a god._

There was something else I saw that confirmed that. When I looked into his eyes, they looked like kaleidoscopes, constantly changing, which created a hypnotic affect.

"Um, who are you?" I managed to stutter out.

"Hmmm." He said regarding my like a science experiment. "That doesn't matter so much, now does it?"

I was going to answer, but he cut me off.

"No it doesn't. What matters is you and your problem." His voice sounded like a collage student, occupied, but sincere.

"What problem?" I asked. Hey, I have many problems.

"The riddle problem, of which you and your friend can't find an answer to."

I could remember the riddle so clearly. _"There are two doors, one is blue, one is red. One leads to life, and one leads to certain death. You don't know which is which. The doors are the only way out of a room you are stuck in./There are two guards, one is on the left and one is on the right. One is a lying guard that always lies, one is a truthful guard that always tells the truth. You don' t know which is which./You are aloud one question to ask one guard to help you find figure out which door you want to go out of. So what question do you ask, and to which guard, the one on the left, or the one on the right?"_

"Yes," the man continued. "That is quite a hard riddle. But, I'll help you solve it."

"Yes!" I panted. "Help me!"

"Ok, I'll let you live it."

"Wait, what?" I shouted at his fading figure. But I was already falling unconscious.

_I was standing in a dark, gray room. The only source of light was a light bulb hanging from a chain. No doors were in the room, except a blue one and a red one. There were two guards wearing black suits, like FBI agents. They had no weapons, but I had no doubt that they could pound me to a pulp with their fists._

'_Great,' I thought, 'Now I have to make it out of here AND answer the Sphinx's riddle.' _

_Then I realized that_ _the only way out was those two doors. So I had to answer the riddle of die._

_I still couldn't think of an answer, so I decided to wait until I could get out by other means. Whoever was controlling this dream vision could tell what I was thinking. The walls around me started to close together, the doors getting smaller as it moved._

'_I have to answer this riddle now!'_

_In my panic I thought up an answer to confusing that it was fool-proof._

"_Hey!" I shouted to the nearest guard a loud as I could. "If I asked the other guard which door would lead to life, what would he say?"_

_It sounds confusing, it sounds stupid, but I somehow knew it would work._

"_The blue door." The guard said after thinking about it for a while. Well in that while, the walls moved so close together that I could almost touch them. _

_I could barely see the guards turn into clay and crumble as I darted across the room to the ever shrinking doors. I was to busy to care, though. I darted across the room and pushed myself into the red door. The one opposite to the one the guard said._

I gasped and opened my eyes.

Ilya looked up and said, "Are you OK, you've been asleep for an hour now."

I looked out at she sky and saw the sun was just setting.

"It's time for your answer, Cathy," the Sphinx gloated. "Come to your death."

I took a deep breath and walked to the Sphinx. "I have your answer."

"You can ask any guard you wish this question: If I asked the other guard which door lead to life, what would he say? Lets say the door to the living was the red one. If it was the lying guard, he would know the truthful guard would say the red door, so he would lie and say the blue door. If it was the truthful guard, he would know the lying guard would say the blue door, because it's not what he would say, so to be truthful, he would say the blue door. Ignore the answer and go out the opposite door!" Wow that was a mouthful.

The Sphinx, and Ilya for that matter, was staring at me with their mouths wide open. _What! I had to be right! I lived through it!_

The Sphinx growled, but relented and said, "That is the correct answer, so I'll let you live. But I didn't say I'll let you catch me!"

Before I could stop her, she jumped in the sky and used her eagle wings to fly out the ceiling. She managed to but through, leaving a gaping hole in the roof.

"We will meet again!" she shouted, flying away. "When you least expect it."

I sighed._ But at least we are alive. _

I looked down when I heard the groaning of one of the demigods. Looks like they're waking up.

3rd Person POV 

That very night, Annabeth was restlessly trying to sleep in the Athena cabin. All of her cabin mates had dosed off, but she was kept awake by haunting visions of Percy being tortured and killed by Kronos, and his minion Cathy, while she could do nothing to help.

_If only Olympus wasn't closed. If only Chiron would let me go help the search teams. If only…_

By that thought she was asleep.

_Annabeth found herself standing in a strange place. It was, earthen to say the least. She walked across the landscape, into a strange, burnt down house. Soon she found herself in front of an earth-made cell. Literally, it had bars made of earth. Someone was inside, looking weak and malnourished. A few feet away was a small crystal with the point just showing above ground, but she could tell it would get bigger with time._

_Looking inside the cell, she could tell who the person was. It was Hera, her least favorite goddess. _

_"Annabeth," Hera said, full of distaste, "I need to speak to you."_

_Annabeth couldn't fight back a bitter retort. "Well, if it isn't Hera. What did you get yourself into now?" she gestured at the cell._

_Hera growled. "Don't be sarcastic with me. Especially if I'm going to help you find Percy."_

_All of Annabeth's bitter feelings disappeared. "Percy! Where is he?"_

_'I'm finally going to get help!' Annabeth thought. 'Even if it's from my least favorite goddess.'_

_"Find the guy with the one shoe. You will find him at the Grand Canyon Skywalk under the protection of Gleeson Hedge. He will be your answer." _

_Annabeth was confused. "What do you mean?" _

_But the image was already disappearing. "Find the answer! Go to the school!" Hera shouted just before the image flickered out. _

Annabeth woke up screaming. She ran to Chiron and explained the dream. By dawn, she and Butch were using Will's borrowed chariot to go to the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

Cathy's POV

The first one to wake up was a girl with green eyes and brown hair. The second was a boy with blue eyes and pale skin. They had a third comrade, a boy with brown hair, but he had a large scratch going down the left side of his face, along his cheek bone. I gave him some ambrosia, but it didn't help very much, which led me to the conclusion it was a major injury.

When the girl woke up, she shook the blue eyed boy awake, and started searching for their weapons. Luckily Ilya saw them before they could get to them and attack us. She explained what had happened, but even then they were skeptical.

"It does fit in with what I saw." the girl said. "The Minotaur must have snuck up behind us while we were dealing with the Sphinx and the Graeae, and then knocked us out."

"I guess that makes sense," the boy with pale skin said. "But I didn't make it this far up the line by listening to what weird strangers tell us."

"Um, these weird strangers just saved you from death and destruction-by-stomach acid. I think you can say thank you. Or at least introduce yourself." I said to them.

Before the boy could stop her, the girl said, "I'm Gwen, Fifth Cohort. This is Tristan, First Cohort, and the other boy is Raphael, Second Cohort."

Me and Ilya glanced at each other, confused. But never less I said, "I'm Cathy, daughter of Persephone, and this is Ilya, daughter of Euterpe, on of the Muses."

Then two things happened at once. The other guy woke up, gasping, and the guy with the pale skin lunged at us, brandishing a hidden knife.

**A/N: Did you guys like it? Sorry if the description of Gwen is wrong, but I searched all through TSoN but I couldn't find it. If anyone didn't understand the answer to the riddle, just review, and I will try to explain better next time. I know I updated fast, but I didn't get one review between this and the next chapter. That means you have to do it this time. Review!**


	11. Chapter 11

** A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews! They make me happy! I fixed the ADHD problem, and now it is all correct. I probably will forget again, though, so if you guys see any more, please tell me.**

** Also thank you for the suggestion, Rose Nickname, for the suggestion, but I have different plans for this character.**

** Warning: Spoilers for TLH, Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series or THOO series. **

** Now READ!**

_Where we left off: Then two things happened at once. The other guy woke up, gasping, and the guy with the pale skin lunged at us, brandishing a hidden knife._

Cathy's POV

The guy charged, clumsily. I slid my knives out, and easily disarmed the inexperienced fighter. Once the knife was out of his hands, Gwen grabbed him, while he shouted curses. The previously unconscious boy, whose name I think is Raphael, was gulping in lung fulls of air.

Once the two boys had calmed down, Gwen asked, "Why did you attack our new allies?"

I was surprised at that wording. She basically said that she trusted us, even though it's clear others wouldn't. A smile fluttered on my lips. Gwen was taking quite a risk to protect us, and I appreciated it.

The boy, I think it was Tristan, started cursing in a different language. "_Scheming…Greeks" _I somehow made out.

"Did he just call us scheming Greeks? Greeks as in you aren't one?" I blurted out.

That was basically when the explaining started. Gwen and Tristan explained Camp Jupiter, a camp never mentioned in the Percy Jackson series, and the Roman gods. Raphael listened, but never really commented. Then we told about Camp Half-Blood, leaving out the part about the Percy Jackson books, and the Greek gods. By the time we were done, Tristan was glaring at us, Gwen was looking curious, and Raphael was looking neutral as always.

The only part where I was really surprised was when I learned that Ilya had suspected the Roman gods had existed, due to the fact that she read about the Roman gods before coming to camp. Those were the books she had been hiding from me the first time I met her. At first I was really upset that she didn't tell me, but when I looked over the situation I was in before, I decided not to hold it against her. Especially because she seemed really sorry about it.

I finally had a chance to ask some personal questions that kept bugging me. "So…why are you so pale, Tristan? I couldn't help but notice. And Raphael, what's up with your scar?"

Gwen was the one who answered the questions. "Tristan here is a top strategist at Camp Jupiter. He's so pale because he spends so much time inside. Raphael…" she looked for his approval before continuing, " got his scar in the battle on Mount Tam, by a snake monster."

"Oh…" was all I could say. But Raphael didn't seem bothered by it.

"So, what's the plan?" Ilya asked the circle of people.

I frowned. "I guess we should stay here for the night, but then we have to be going. We're heading to the Pacific ocean."

Gwen sighed. "I would take you to Camp Jupiter, but we have our own quest to attend to. You'll have to get their on your own."

Despite my disappointment at the statement, I knew she really couldn't. "It's ok," I lied. "How about we get some sleep?"

Everyone agreed. We ate a little, set up some bed rolls, and dozed off. With Tristan as guard, of course.

_I was standing outside of Camp Half-Blood, looking in. I could see all the precautions they took, traps and everything, to protect them while they slept. I swear I could see the daytime in the middle of the night, people getting ready for war, strategizing, building and practicing with weapons, and training new campers. I could almost feel the misery Annabeth must feel every day, with the camp weighed down with war. The vision went blurry, but I could hear someone whispering.. 'You're close, you're close, you're close…close…close…'_

_ Suddenly I was standing in front of our makeshift camp, watching Tristan talk to monsters. Monsters like the Sphinx, Graeae, and maybe even Medusa. I could hear them whispering,_

_ "Tomorrow we'll ambush the Greek girls, dispose of them, and continue our quest to lead our food to the giants. When you guys attack, after the Greeks are dead, I'll pretend to drive you off, and then we will continue with the plan."_

_ All the monsters muttered an approval as I slowly started to wake up… _

My eyes snapped open, but I didn't dare move an inch. It was still the middle of the night, and Tristan was probably still having his meeting with the monsters. I carefully, without sound, started to get up, collect my knives, and shake Ilya awake. I had to hold my hand over her mouth for a while, but eventually she got the importance of being silent.

We crept over to where Tristan was still in the middle of a meeting with the monsters. Then, silent as the night, we began to attack.

The Graeae were down before anyone knew the attack had started. Medusa, even though we couldn't look at her, somehow managed to get stabbed in the back by Ilya, killing her instantly. Soon only Tristan and the Sphinx were still alive.

Before we could even make a move at Tristan, he had jumped onto the Sphinx and was rising in the air.

"You'll never catch us, you Greeks!" he shouted from above. "The gods will lead you to your own demise while I'm enjoying the paradise on Gaia's side!"

Then they flew away, up out of spear shot, over the unsuspecting city of Chicago, Illinois. Ilya started cursing in Greek, while I just watched them fly away.

_More enemies…_

Annabeth's POV

Butch and I were flying across the US in Will's chariot, heading toward the Grand Canyon skywalk on some whim that a person with only one shoe will help me find Percy. I've had stranger days.

_This better be worth it. _I was thinking. _If Hera was just pulling my leg…_

The thing is I've been searching for Percy for three days straight. I'm crazy worried about him, and I've done everything to find him. If this is true and I could find Percy today…

No, focus on getting there first, Annabeth.

Soon I saw three people standing on the Grand Canyon skywalk, one boy with blonde hair, one boy with black hair, and a girl with brown hair.

As soon as we landed, I pulled out my knife and ran toward the kids. "Where is he?" I demanded.

"Where's who?" the blonde haired boy asked.

I frowned. What do you mean he didn't know? I turned toward the other kids. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"

The black haired boy cleared his throat. "He got taken by some… tornado things."

"_Venti,_" the blond haired boy said. "Storm spirits."

I was surprised. How could he know the Roman term? I arched an eyebrow. "You mean _anemoi thuellia_? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

The blonde boy started to explain what happened to him. When he was done, I wasn't satisfied. As much as I like helping new demigods, I was here looking for Percy. And so far we haven't found him.

"No, no, no! She_ told_ me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."

"Annabeth," Butch grunted. Check it out." Butch pointed to the blonde guys feet.

His shoe was thrown off and his foot looked like a lump of charcoal.

"The guy with one shoe." Butch said. "He's the answer."

"No Butch," I insisted. He can't be. I was tricked." In my moment of rage I shouted to the sky. "What do you want from me? What have you done with him?"

The sidewalk shuttered, and the horses whinnied urgently, but we were otherwise unaffected.

"Annabeth," Butch said, "we gotta leave. Lets get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."

I fumed in rage. "Fine." I fixed the blonde guy with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."

I turned and march toward the chariot.

_Oh Percy, where are you?_

Cathy's POV

After Tristan disappeared, we woke the others and told them the news. Then we slept in shifts for the rest of the night. In the morning we said good-by to Gwen and Raphael and set off.

"Here!" Gwen shouted as we were about to leave. "Yu can take this extra sword. We have no use for it."

I turned out that the sword doubled as a keychain. It was golden with a brown, leather hilt. The keychain was blue with a picture of Washington DC's obelisk. I thanked her and clipped it onto my back pack.

We set off, heading to the west side of the city. We managed to 'come across' (Ok, steal,) a loaf of bread, a canteen of water, and some meat jerky. Somehow I managed to make plants grow in an ally, providing us with strawberries, grapes, and apples.

We had finally made it out of the city and set camp for the night. That was when I unsheathed my knives. I gasped. The knife had a third metal in it now, the same gold color that the sword was. Imperial gold, I think.

It was about midnight, I'd think, when I awoke from my sleep, sinking into the ground.

**A/N: That's it for Annabeth, for** **this story. The rest of TLO goes as written. Remember to review. Reviews are the air I breath! Byes! -Crystal**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I no own PJO or HOO.**

**Read!**

_Where we left off: It was about midnight, I think, when I awoke from my sleep, sinking into the ground._

Cathy's POV

Ilya was struggling against the pull of the earth. Her arms were already sucked up, which prevented her from grabbing her spear and cutting herself out. Not like that would work. It was the earth it's self grabbing us.

I guess that's not an accurate description either. Well, here's what's happening. Us and our supplies were being sucked into the ground. My whole left side of my body had been sucked in. But, it wasn't like being forced in. It was sorta like the earth was beckoning us down, and our body wasn't able to resist the offer. That might just be my parentage speaking. You know, Queen of the Underworld, daughter of goddess of grain.

So anyway, while Ilya struggled like crazy, I just sat there and let the earth suck me in.

I took one deep breath as I was pulled underground. It was eternal darkness in there, but some how I could tell where the nearest tree, plant, farm, and air pocket that was. I sat there for what seemed forever, going downward with no air to breath. When I thought I was going to pass out was when I finally made it to the bottom.

Me, Ilya, and our supplies all fell at the same time. Yellow an black spots danced across my eyes as I gulped in the much needed air. Soon my vision cleared and my breath slowed enough for me to see where I was.

I was in some underground greenhouse. There were walls hewn right into the earth, covered with green tinted slabs of tile. The roof was made of the same material, but it was see through, so we could see the false stars above. But it was the ground that was amazing.

The ground had rows and rows of cultivated flowers. But they were _gem_ flowers. Rows and rows of flowers, colored with dark bases, and tinted with bright, peppy colors. I bent down to examine one. They were all carved flawlessly and smooth to the touch, just like mine. They had some good craftsmanship. But something in my heart was telling me that these weren't carved, they were planted.

From around the corner, three ghosts came to us. They were so deathly pale that they couldn't be anything else. That was proven true when Ilya tried to hand something to them and it fell through their hands.

We packed up our supplies and let them lead us. What else were we supposed to do? I had no idea where we were, though I did have some ideas.

We were lead to some lounge chairs and some food. Although Ilya and I were careful not to touch the food, we both took this opportunity to sit down and relax. Even though we were down here, it was still midnight, I could tell Ilya was as exhausted as I was.

It took a while, but eventually a women walked in. She had long, black, lush hair that elegantly draped onto her crystal white dress. The only color was small, probably drawn with pen, light pink, curvy, lines. Everywhere, though, and thin as a needle. She did have blue eye shadow and red lip gloss on. She had pale, no bleach white, skin.

It was my mom.

My suspicions were proved correct when the lady addressed me, "Hello, my child." Her expression was strained, like she was trying to look happy.

My ADHD saved me an intelligent reply. "How did your dress get like that? With the pink stripes?"

For the first time the lady, no Persephone, smiled for real. "My maid servants did it for me. They spent a decade making it."

"Isn't that cruel?" Ilya asked. I could tell that was a rigged question. Obviously Persephone could too.

"My maid servants have a kind fate. They are saved from eternal boredom. Half the things they do for me are from choice, not command."

Me and Ilya stayed silent. Then I couldn't stand it.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

Persephone sighed. "Why are we here?, a question all dead souls ask before they enter Aphosel.**(A/N: Did I spell that right?)** What are we doing here? What's going on? And then finally, This is a mistake! But you aren't dead. You're here because I would like to give you some family history."

That started Persephone's story. The story of my life.

"When you were born such a long time ago, Hades was enraged. He did not want his wife to have a demigod child anymore than I want him to. He went to Zeus with his complaint, and Zeus decided me unfaithful. As punishment, he was going to strike you with a lightning bolt, and kill you.

"I tried to save you, but he had made up his mind. So I did the only thing I could. I made an offer. You would spend half of the year in custody of the gods, preferably in the Underworld where you can be watched by Hades, and the other half of the year you could spend with your father.

"So as I went to and from the Underworld, you did too. At first Hades hated you and wanted to make your life hell. Once, when you were two, you 'accidentally' made it into the Fields of Punishment. I had to go get you before you were seriously hurt. But eventually Hades warmed up to you, teaching you karate and martial arts at age five, having you beat skeletal minions and use knifes at age seven.

"But gods can't raise heroes. When the time came where you would start to remember your time in the Underworld, you had to go and be raised by your mortal parent.

"By then, your father couldn't care for you anymore. You were put in the orphanage, and stayed there until you found your way to Camp Half-Blood."

I sat in silence absorbing the information. Then I asked, "What happened to my father?"

Persephone looked conflicted for a minute, but then she answered, "Your father… he was a member of a special cult for me an my mother, Demeter. He…died in a plane crash when you were only a few months old. Zeus spared you, but not your father. From then, your time on earth was spent at the orphanage, it's called Cullers right?, well anyway, you spent your time there with Lady Charlotte, an adult demigod. "

I tried to hide my urge to start cursing at Zeus. He basically ruined my only ties to the mortal world. My father, and my time on earth. If I could, I would so go to Olympus and…

It did make a lot of stuff clearer, my past, parentage, and why no one chased after me when I went to face the Cyclops. Who knows, maybe Lady Charlotte gave me the books too.

"Do you still have your flower, Cathy?" Persephone's voice cut off my train of thought.

"Of course." I told her, taking the flower out of my backpack and handing it to her.

She took the flower and walked away with long, wide strides. I had to run to keep stride with her. Ilya was right behind me. Persephone stopped by a large patch of fertile dirt. She bent down and pat the dirt around the stem of the flower. Then she turned to me.

"Make it grow." She ordered.

"Make it grow?" I thought allowed. How do you make gems grow? "I-I can't."

"Try." Persephone said. Ilya looked at me expectedly.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I imagined my flower growing. I imagined my flowers heart beat growing bigger, and bigger, and bigger…

"Hey!" Ilya shouted. "Look at what you did!"

I opened my eyes and saw that my flower had turned into a field of flowers, all with the same stem and leaves. They all reached the ceiling, and they all had different base colors and tints, making them all unique. Ilya and I were surprised, but Persephone only looked like she was proved right.

"All is certain now…" Persephone mumbled. "She is the one of the gods…"

I had no idea what that meant, but only a suspicion that the 'she' is me.

"I will try to help you on your quest." Persephone told us. "I will transport you outside the DOA lobby. From there you can go to the Pacific Ocean and get Percy."

"First someone wants to visit you."

With a flick of her wrist my flower was back in my backpack, and we were poofed into a cozy cottage looking place. It can't be though, it's the Underworld.

Then a figure emerged from the shadows. I was a boy. He was tall, with black hair and eyes that changed color like a kaleidoscope. His hands were calloused, but they still looked good, an impossible feat he pulled off. He was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, but he made them designer clothes. A gray hat covered his facial features, but by now doubt they were gorgeous. The only sign of wealth is a piece of gold he had around his finger.

"Oh." He said when he looked at us. "Hermes! We have visitors!" when he saw our faces, he introduced himself.

"Hi," he said, sounding almost meek, despite his appearance. "I'm Michel, apprentice of Hermes, god of Determination and Perseverance. Welcome to the House of Hermes."

**A/N: R&R! Note: Here comes the romance!**

**Adios! **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Here is the romance! Thanks for the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the awesomeness of PJO or HOO, only, OC's (which include Michel) and the plot.**

Cathy's POV

After we met Michel, Hermes came in. He was dressed like a traveling business man, comfortable clothes, a sun hat, and a watch. But his face portrayed him as a person who knew that no matter how hard they worked their job would never be done. He looked at ease, but I had no doubt that he could become the business man, or even the thief he portrayed if he wanted too.

Night was over, so Hermes offered to serve us breakfast. Although Ilya and I had to go, we just couldn't resist the promise of breakfast and (hopefully) sleep. Hermes waved his hand, and the table filled with eggs, bacon, toast, omelets, and coffee. There was also nectar and ambrosia for Michel and Hermes, but me and Ilya were careful only to eat a little. We did replenish our supply of it, though.

Me and Ilya sure did eat our fill. As I was sipping my third cup of coffee, I finally realized why demigods liked it so much. With little sleep, coffee really wakes you up and gets you ready to fight monsters. Hermes even let us take a thermos full of it, along with all the leftovers.

I couldn't help but notice Michel. He was silent through dinner, and he only bothered to answer questions Hermes asked him. He was obviously not good around people. Once he was done eating he tinkered with springs, bolts, and strips of medal. By the time dessert was served, there was a little robot walking in circles around the table. As I looked closer at him, I noticed the details of his appearance. He had an apron on that was splattered in paint, red, blue, yellow, black, and green. His grey hat actually had a H on it. The jeans were skinny jeans, that outlined the thick corded muscles on he legs. His t-shirt was frayed on the ends of the sleeves, baby blue threads standing out on his tanned skin.

_Stop it. _I told myself. _You can't be interested in him because of his looks. Heck, I can't be interested in him at all. I have a quest to finish. Plus, he's a god. Most of them are stuck up and conceited. Especially if they're hot._

There was one thing he wouldn't do. No matter what Hermes said, he wouldn't take off his hat.

"Michel," Hermes started, "take your hat off, we have guests."

"No, Hermes. There's no point." His voice sounded like caramel, thick and sweet.

"Michel-"

"No." He stated plainly. Hermes didn't make him, and we continued our dinner in silence.

Well, I guess it wasn't silence. Ilya and Hermes were engaged in polite conversation. Ilya was so polite, saying thank you when every dish was passed around, commenting on the décor of the place. She said it looked homey, I guess it did. There were pictures on the walls, and everything. It was kind of strange to me, though. Hermes is the patron god of thieves, travelers, and merchants. How could he really have a home to stay in?

He seemed to be reading my mind. "I spend so much time in the Underworld delivering messages that Hades offered to give me a place to stay. You don't say no to him, so I had this place built. It's a great place for me and Michel. I kind of enjoy the irony that the god of travelers has a real home."

I was having a lot of troubling thoughts about Ilya too. She looked like she had fancy dinners like this before, which made me wonder where she lived before coming to Camp Half-Blood.

At the end of breakfast, Hermes gave us some food and offered to let us have some sleep before we get to the DOA lobby.

"You can sleep in the guest room," Hermes said to Ilya, "and Cathy," He turned toward me, "umm… we only have one guest room, so how about you sleep in Michel's room."

Michel's head popped up from his work then. He shot Hermes a glare that seemed to say- What?- before Hermes spoke again.

"So, Michel, how about you take Cathy to your room, and I'll show Ilya to the guest room."

I grabbed my backpack and followed Michel, who was glowering at Hermes every time he looked his was. When me and Ilya turned our separate ways, Ilya winked at me, leaving me wondering what the heck Ilya is thinking.

It was really homey in the Hermes house. To take my mind of the awkward silence between me and Michel, I gazed around. Unlike the houses of other gods, this house didn't make me feel inferior. Actually, it made me feel like an adventurer. Several walls we passed by had paintings of other places, like Hawaii, or Vince, Italy, even Rome. I paused as we walked by pictures of a Roman coliseum, and of ancient Egypt. I could see the pictures of those places so clearly in my mind that there was no point at looking. There were deer horns on one of the walls, and a caduceus on another. I only turned to Michel when I spotted a large, bronze door with bolts decorated on it.

"What's that?" I asked Michel.

He didn't even glance over. "My workshop." Was all he replied.

Soon we were coming up to his room. The door was wood, but the sights inside weren't. His bed was completely blue, and sitting in the top-most corner of the room. The carpet was green, like grass. The walls were platinum, I think, with hooks on them. Shields, armor, swords, knives, and pieces of projects hung there. On a table in the corner there was piles of scraps, wood, metal, bolts, nuts, etc. There did seem to be an air of expertise in there. The room was furnished, but not to much, and decorated finely. But no pictures hung on the wall, only blue prints, with the exception of one sole photo of a girl with short, black hair and hazel eyes. She kind of looked like me, but she was younger. That's impossible though, I have never met Michel before now.

"Well, the bed's over there," Michel explained, "just try not to trip or hit any buttons on the way over there. If that happens, just hit the floor. Well that, or you'll die. Just…try not to think of that."

I grinned. The room of death. Just my luck. I can't even walk over to a bed in peace.

I went over and lied down, pulling silver blankets up to my chin. For the first time I realized how cold it was in the Underworld, suffocating cold. Also, whenever I closed my eyes, shadows seemed to creep up on me, making my eyes pop open to find no one's there but Michel, who sat down on the carpet by the door. I guess those three cups of coffee don't help much. I couldn't think of anything but Michel, smoking hot Michel who's sitting on the floor right in front of me, waiting for me to make the first move…

_Whoa, Cathy. You are not in love. You have a mission to do. You can't have a relationship with a god. Look where it got my dad!_

Still, I couldn't shake that feeling that I was only reassuring myself. I sat up and attempted to speak.

"M-M-Michel." My teeth chattered together in the cold. "I'm fre-e-zing cold-d."

Michel looked up from the ground. "Well," he walked across the room slowly. "How about I help with that?" He sat down on the edge of the bed, and put his arms around me, holding me in his embrace.

He was warm. Like a light in the darkness. I closed my eyes and pressed my head against his chest. It was like a spark of fire was sliding up my spine, making me shutter. I found my arms closing around Michel's torso, like a rag doll around its owner. His muscles felt sturdy and reliable, like everything else about him. I felt my hair being undone from the ponytail I put it into during breakfast, letting my stringy black hair slide down my back and onto Michel's arms. I smelt his cologne, and opened my eyes to see the baby blue t-shirt pressed against my eyes.

Before I knew it, my lips were brushing against Michel's. I felt energy race up my body.

It's really hard to describe love. The pure joy of it, even in the worst, most confusing times in your life. That's defiantly what I felt kissing Michel. At that point I could tell, rather I liked it or not, that I loved Michel and that there's no escape to it.

I felt a strange urge to brush Michel's hair. Still kissing him, my hand automatically slid up to his hair, knocking his hat off.

Michel pulled away from me and clutched his hat. I was pulled forward and almost crashed onto the floor. I quickly caught my balance and looked to Michel. Despite his efforts to catch it, the hat tumbled to the ground, reveling his face.

He had a full head of black, hat hair. His kaleidoscope eyes stopped at a luscious, chocolate brown. But his skin was what my eyes were drawn to.

The skin had a giant scar. No, it was more of a birthmark. It was a blotchy pink with dots of red that spread from the top left corner of his face, over his nose and lips, and down to his jaw bone. The skin underneath was a discolored yellow, with red and pink blotches all over the rest of the face. His lips were a light pink, and his eye brows were black.

Immediately, he grabbed the hat off the ground and plopped it back on his head. He went over to the door, and was about to leave.

"It's ok, you can laugh. I already know I'm ugly."

He left me listening to his receding steps from down the hall as I laid down my head and passed, unintentionally, into a deep sleep.

_It was me, but younger, sitting in front of the only fire place in the Underworld. I looked to be about five, with chubby checks and short, cropped hair. I was watching with wonder as a teen juggled green fire, probably Greek fire. _

_ I giggled as the teen tossed two balls of fire extremely high in the air as he juggled, sliding them back into his juggling routine as they came back down._

_ "Come on Micky, higher!"_ _I squealed as he chucked the fire into the air once more._

_ Even in the black and white, I could recognized the birthmark that stretched across Michel's face. He seemed more at ease than now though. It couldn't be with age, because, being a god, he couldn't get older._

_ I watched a little longer, still giggling, as Michel juggled. Then Michel, smiling wide, creating a hoop of fire out of the balls. He rotated it, letting tiny sparks he designed to look as fairies jump through it._

_ "My turn! My turn!" I shouted with glee._

_ Michel didn't look like this was unusual. Instead he made the hoop bigger and sped the rotation up until you couldn't tell it was fire, but just one ring of light._

_ I backed up a bit, but than ran to it at top speed. Then when I was as close as I could get to it without being burned, I leapt through. Suddenly, I was seeing the fire through my own eyes, the flames licking me as I sped by. I wasn't scared, and I didn't get burned. It was really fun. At one time the light was so blinding that I tried to close my eyes before I remembered it was a dream and I couldn't._

_ I thought I would have died, but I came out the other side unscathed. _

_ "Huzzah!" Michel imitated a crowd roaring. "The Amazing Squirt!"_

_ "Hey!" I yelled at him, putting my hands at my hips. "I'm not a squirt!"_

_ I heard Michel laughing with his caramel colored voice as I slowly awoke…_

My eye's popped open to find it almost dark.

_What was that dream about?_ was the first thing I thought. _I was with Michel in the Underworld when I was young… he was juggling fire…No, it can't be._ The thought had just entered my mind that I looked exactly, in my dream, like the girl in the picture.

_That can't be me. _

I shook the thought out of my head when I realized Ilya was calling for me. I got out of bed, took a nice, quick shower (curtsy to Michel's bathroom) and got ready to leave. I strapped on my knives, changed my clothes, and put my hair up. I used Michel's sweater that I found laying around to cover my arms. Making a split decision, a fished my flower out of my backpack and stored it in my pocket. I found my way to the kitchen where Hermes, Ilya, and Michel waited.

Hermes gave us some food, coffee, and another change of clothes. Also he gave us some news.

"Michel has asked to go with you. Do you mind?"

I looked over to Ilya, who grinned at me encouragingly.

"Of course Michel can come." I tried to make eye contact with him as I spoke, but he kept avoiding my gaze. He kept sticking his hands in and out of his pocket like he was keeping track of something.

"Great." Hermes replied with a grin. "Now I have to deliver a package," he said as his phone/caduceus started ringing. "but I can transport you to the DOA lobby."

"Good luck." Hermes told us as the Hermes House started fading from view.

**A/N: Did you like? If you want more romance tell me, and I will add it in. Other than that, there will probably be no more kissing.**

** I got the idea for Ilya's winks and smiles from a friend who does that to me around my crush. Hope it was satisfactory!**

** Now, I need your opinion. I have basely writing, editing once, spellchecking, and then posting because I wanted to update faster. I don't know if I should edit more, but post later, or post the way I am and go back to edit if I see a major change that needs to happen. Please, review and tell me, even if I have other chapters posted!**

** Reread and Review! :) I appreciate the feed back!**


	14. Just a AN That u have to read!

**A/N: Hello all loyal fans! First congratulations! If you've made it here you have read my story, put up with my OC's and actually like my writing! I have a lot of things I have been wanting to tell you, so I'm going to dedicate this chapter to those things. So no story right now.**

** First, do you guys know the value of paper clips? No, not just as a tool. I mean during WWII. **

** In WWII, people in Norway, and probably other countries, were against the Holocaust. But these countries were ruled by Germany, so anyone who spoke up about it would be killed. So the Norwegians developed sort of a secret code. Anyone against the Holocaust would wear a paper clip on there collar.**

** Well, I watched this movie (called Paper Clips) that inspired me to carry on the Norwegian tradition. I want all of you, any day you want, to wear a paper clip on your collar. Make all your friends do so too. Then, at the end of the day, come to this chapter and send me a review with smiley faces on it. Each person you know who wore a paper clip, type a smiley face for them.**

** OK, now that I don't feel so obliged to tell you that…**

** Now, onto another topic. Do you guys think that Rick Riordan an another professional authors know about fanfiction? It's just, there are so, many, people who write about PJO, or TKC, or HG, even Twilight. I'm wondering if these authors know we're writing about their stories. I'm going to send some letters out to the authors of the most popular books, (Rick Riordan, Suzanne Coullings [I spelled her name wrong],…), and ask them to check fanfiction and fanpress out. Well, at least I'll try. So if any of you guys get a review from a professional author, let me know.**

** Finally, my story. I'm having some trouble deciding how to release the pressure I put up in-between Michel and Cathy. So, you need to help me decide. I'll put up a poll on my profile, or you can just tell me here. OK, if you vote a monster attack, send a review with a MA on it. For more romance, send a R, for just get to the end of the story! send a JF for Just Finnish. Oh, and if you don't care what I decide, just send a WC.**

** Thank you in advance for reviewing and reading! I'm in a tight spot, and I'm afraid that my story won't finish soon unless I get suggestions from you. Feel free to suggest anything you want for any of my stories, and review even if the only thing you type is, Hi! :]**

** Bye! **


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N at bottom! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, Rick Riorden does. I don't own any songs name I mention. Kelly Clarkson owns Stronger, minus all lyric changes I added to make more for demigods (which wasn't much). I only own my OC's, Cathy, Michel and Ilya.**

**Ha, ha! Now you can's sue me! Read!**

**(Note: Cathy only kissed Michel in the last chapter because she had a crush on him when she was little. Since her brain can't remember her childhood, she just thinks she's being shallow and vain, but she really isn't. Her brain just doesn't understand that she's doing what her heart had wanted her to do for years.)**

Cathy's POV

Once Hermes transported us to the DOA lobby it didn't take long to get to the Pacific coast. We did have to sneak away from Charon, but other than that the rest of the trip was easy. Michel got us a ride. He went into a motorcycle rental place and came out a few seconds later with a Harley motorcycle with one of those carry-on-cars on the side. There were no monster attacks at all. Just awkward radio silence as we rode. Ilya sat in the side car, leaving Michel sitting in the front to drive, and me clinging to him so I wouldn't fall off. We all had helmets so we could talk over the radio, but no one had anything to say, so it stayed silent.

It took three hours to make it to the Pacific coast. By then, I wished a monster had attacked. We rented a hotel room with some money Hermes gave us and settled in for the night. The money was enough for a room and room service, but for only one night. That's good, we didn't plan on staying longer than needed. There was a TV to watch, but we demigods aren't good with electronics and decided not to take the chance of the TV exploding on us. That would be a really pathetic way to die.

So we sat on the beds, Michel still not looking or talking to me, while we waited for room service. Ilya was jotting something onto pieces of scrap paper while we waited.

"Cathy! I'm done, come look at this!" Ilya shouted excitedly.

I, being the friend I am, came over to look.

"Um… what is it?" It was written in Greek, but there were black dots over the words that made it confusing to read. The title was: **What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger).**

"It's music; it's a song I wrote. Can you sing it, please? I need to see what it sounds like."

_Music?… you mean the jingles ice creams trucks blast as they go by? No thanks, I'll go away now._ But, sadly, I'm not that rude. So I picked up the lyrics sheet and read the first verse while Ilya played the intro on the flute. Then I sang:

"**The bed is warmer**

**Sleeping here alone**

**You know I dream in color**

**And of the things I want**

**You think you've got the best of me**

**Think you've got the last laugh**

**Bet you think the monsters are all gone**

**Think you've left me broken down**

**Think I won't come running back**

**You don't know me, cause you're dead wrong**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger**

**Stand a little taller**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**

**What doesn't kill you makes a fighter**

**Footsteps even lighter**

**Doesn't mean I'm over cause I fell to you**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger**

**Just me, myself and I**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger**

**Stand a little taller**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**

**You didn't think that I'd go away with someone else**

**They told you I was training more, climbing high**

**You didn't think that I'd come back**

**I'd come back swinging**

**You tried to break me but you see**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger**

**Stand a little taller**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**

**What doesn't kill you makes a fighter**

**Footsteps even lighter**

**Doesn't mean I'm over cause I fell to you**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger**

**Just me, myself and I**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger**

**Stand a little taller**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**

**Thanks to you I got a new thing started**

**Thanks to you I'm not the weak and worthless**

**Thanks to you I'm finally thinking about me**

**You know in the end the day I lost was just my beginning**

**In the end...**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger**

**Stand a little taller**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**

**What doesn't kill you makes a fighter**

**Footsteps even lighter**

**Doesn't mean I'm over cause I fell to you**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger**

**Just me, myself and I**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger**

**Stand a little taller**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger**

**Just me, myself and I**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger**

**Stand a little taller**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone**

**(I'm stronger now)"**

When I was done I was so embarrassed I was blushing. I got over it quickly when Ilya and me started laughing. Michel was actually looking at me for the first time today, and me looked like he was trying to hold laughter in.

When the giggles died down I said, "Ilya, those lyrics are great! I didn't know you were a song writer."

"It's always been my dream." Ilya replied, still beaming.

That started a karaoke round where Ilya and me sang songs like Call Me Maybe, Sweet Home Alabama, Stereo Hearts, You're Beautiful, and more. Ilya and I were in a laughing fest and Michel was smiling slightly when we were done.

At that moment room service came. Michel got our food while me and Ilya moved to the floor. The whole time I was wondering about Ilya and Michel's past and how to tell Michel about my dream if he wouldn't even look at me.

Suddenly I got an idea that would both satisfy my curiosity and allow us to learn more about each other. When the room service guy left and once we were all seated, I voiced my idea.

"Who wants to tell a story?" I wondered allowed, a smile on my face.

"About what?" Ilya looked nervously at my grin.

"The story of our lives."

Michel and Ilya stared at me. I wasn't surprised. Even I didn't want to tell everyone my past. But my curiosity edged me on.

"Come on! We should get to know each other more. I'll go first." I offered.

"No Cathy," Ilya said to my surprise. "I'll go first."

That began Ilya's tale. Michel and I sat there in silence as Ilya spoke.

"When I was young," she began, "I lived with my dad on the country-side in Pennsylvania. My dad's name was Kevin, and he was the best man in the world. He worked for the government and often had to take me to fancy diners. He was very overprotective though, and hardly let me out of his sight. I guess I know now that he was overprotective for a reason.

"When I was about eight, I was in my room rotating between doing homework and listening to my I-pod, even though I should have been sleeping. Suddenly, the door bell rang. My dad answered it, showing me a boy slightly older than me. He went through a furry of explanations that I couldn't make out. I did hear the crinkling of paper and silence only made by someone desperate.

"Eventually my dad ran into the kitchen. He came out soon after. 'Here's all I can give you. It has some extra nectar and ambrosia, along with some weapons and food. It also has keys to the Ford in the garage. Go quickly.'

"The boy ran out the door. A few seconds later I heard the truck's engine, and the truck zooming down the road. When I woke up the next day I never asked what happened to the truck. It seemed like the subject was forbidden.

"Last year I finally convinced my dad to let me go on a field trip. Our school was going to San Francisco to tour the Golden Gate bridge, a once in a life time experience. It was a week long trip, but dad didn't seem to mind. Everything was fine until I saw the kids.

"Well, I guess they weren't kids. They were slightly older than me, and dressed in weird looking helmets, breastplates, scabbards, with blue jeans, purple t-shirts and white sports shoes. They were standing in front of a maintenance door in the middle of a highway. They seemed to be guarding something. When the bus passed buy, they seemed surprised to see me staring at them. One of them pointed at me, but before anyone could do anything the bus was gone.

"I had a surprisingly fun field trip, until I strayed from the group and a hydra found me. I did what any person would do after confronting a strange, snake-headed monster. I ran the heck away. I sprinted to the highway and found myself stuck avoiding cars and the hydra. Well, soon the cars had stopped, but that's not the point. I got so scared that I put my hand to my neck for comfort."

"Oh, I got it." I said. "Then your necklace turned into the spear and you tried to kill it, right?"

"Yep," Ilya said, continuing her story. "but I didn't get that far. One of the guards came and helped me kill it. Then they took me to-"

"Camp Jupiter," I gasped, putting all the puzzle pieces together.

Ilya had stayed at Camp Jupiter until she talked to Lupa. Lupa told her that her father was a demigod and that he came to Camp Jupiter too. Her father had a child to a Greek god though, so she had to go to Camp Half-Blood instead. She left the next night with only her necklace and a book of Roman gods to take with her. No one at camp noticed here absence. Except for a blonde-haired boy she sprinted into on her way out. She thought his name was Jason. The point is, Ilya wasn't allowed to tell anyone about Camp Jupiter, so she kept it a secret. Well, until now.

When she finished it was my turn. So I told everyone my story, including the books and everything. Well, everything except for the Michel and me kissing thing. From the look on Ilya's face, I could tell she knew all about it. I also left the dream part out. I wanted to tell Michel about that privately.

By then we had finished our food and it was about midnight. We agreed to have Michel tell his story tomorrow and we got ready for bed. The atmosphere was lighter around us now that there was hardly any secrets. It seemed like we could be a team.

I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I woke up to the sound of Ilya's voice screaming, "Monster!"

I wasn't really awake, which explains why I didn't notice the fact Michel was missing or that Ilya was practically grinning. It was still dark outside, and it couldn't have been earlier than eleven o'clock. I unsheathed my knives as fast as I could and whirled so I faced her.

"Where is it?" was the first thing that came out of my mouth.

"In the closet." Ilya replied, clutching her spear. "Right," she stressed the word opening the closet door, "there!"

Before I realized what she was doing, I was pushed into the pitch black closet and into someone's arms. They stumbled backward in the cramped closet fell against the wall. As soon as I had enough balance to stand up again, I went over to the closet door and banged as hard as I could on it.

"Ilya! Let-Me-Out!"

"Not until you and Michel make up!" was her reply, as she sat down against the door.

For the first time I realized who was standing right next to me. It was Michel. We were cramped, pressing up against each other in the miniscule closet. Even in the dark, I could feel the strawberry red blush creeping up my checks. I was standing in a dark, cramped, miniscule closet with the boy of my dreams (literally!). All I could think about was how glad I was he couldn't see me. Still flushing, I struggled to smooth my shirt down to my knees, hoping it would stay there. Before I went to bed, I took a shower and dressed in only my shirt and underwear. I was convinced that I would finally get some restful sleep. But no! Now I was standing in a closet with a boy -no god- without my bra or shorts on.

"Michel…" I mumbled, blushing furiously.

"Cathy." came the curt reply.

After a few minutes of silence, I heard Ilya's shallow breathing outside the door. She was sleeping. I heard Michel breath a sigh of relief as his fingertip lit up. He lit it up with Greek fire and let it drift to the top of the small space.

_How does he do that?_

I could see what Michel looked like now. He was not wearing a shirt and I could see some elastic shorts. Or at least, I was hoping they were shorts. Even at night Michel's baseball cap rested on his head hiding his face.

I tried to start a conversation. "How did Ilya get you in here?"

"She chucked my baseball cap in."

"Oh." _Curse Aphrodite! How dare she make this so awkward! I swear she's laughing in Olympus right now!_

"So… how did you do that? With the fire I mean," I kept stumbling mentally. "It's just… it was so cool! I though only Hephaestus had fire power."

"Yeah. Only Hephaestus…" his voice was bitter.

"Um, Michel is there a problem."

"…"

"I have something to tell you," I hesitantly started. That's when I told Michel about my dream. He nodded but I couldn't see his expression. He must not have been buying it.

"Cathy… are you sure it was you in the dream? Are you positive?"

I paused for a minute. "I'm positive, Michel. Please believe me."

He laughed. It sounded like the reverberating of a gong. His arms wrapped around mine in a hug gesture. He didn't have to move his hands very much in the cramped space. "Of course I believe you._ Squirt._" He whispered in my ear.

We both looked into each other's eyes. It was obvious that we both wanted to kiss, but thinking like that was impossible. The only reason we kissed last time is because we were both overcome with emotion. That we can't be together is obvious. He's a god; I'm only a twelve year old girl whose likelihood of surviving as demigod is slim. But still I felt a connection with him, and I'm sure he could feel it too. He seemed depressed.

"Michel, you seem like something's wrong." The words came unbidden into my mouth. I guess I really care about Michel. That make sense; we spent a whole childhood together. Though I can't remember any of it.

"There is… I'm afraid once you know my past you won't accept me."

"Michel," I whisper, "I will never turn my back on you." I tried to amend myself once I realized what that sounded like. "I just found my childhood friend! Why would I turn my back on you?"

"You don't understand… I've done some…bad things in the past. You'll hate me once you know."

"Michel," I tried to fight my curiosity, but to no avail. "what did you do?"

"Did you ever wonder why Aphrodite hates Hephaestus?" Michel blurted out. "It's not because she's vain. Well, she is and likes Ares better, but that's not the point. The real reason was the one child she had with him. After a year of persuasion Aphrodite relented. She allowed Hephaestus to have a child with her. I am that child. My real name is Unworthy in Greek. I'm the god of Determination and Persistence. You were the one who named me Michel. You said it was to easier to say.

"The point is, I was the child of Aphrodite and Hephaestus. I was also one of those unusual children who didn't get there own powers, but inherited them from their parents. I got power over fire and excellence with my hands from my dad, and good looks and charm-speak from my mom. I was handsome as a baby to, everywhere except my face. That's where I have my scar.

"One of the things most people don't know about my mom was that she's extremely obsessed with having a perfect child. She thought all her spawn should be perfect and have no flaw. She thought I would be that child. Especially when she saw my flawless skin and good looks. When she saw my scar, she classified me as a failed project. A failed son. So, before I could even communicate, she gave me the name Unworthy and told Hephaestus to get rid of me. My dad didn't really want to, but he cared more about Aphrodite than about me. He tried to give me to Hera and Zeus, but Hera is as vain as Aphrodite and wouldn't take me. So I got given to Aphrodite's parents."

_Aphrodite's parents? I didn't think she had any._

"Who are Aphrodite's parents?" I interrupted.

"Aphrodite was born when Uranus' blood hit the sea foam. So my grandparents are Uranus and Gaia."

_No... _

"So I lived in the stars with Uranus. He was a nice man, though sometimes bitter. He's a lot like me. He supported Gaea's decisions all the way. I often reflected on how Uranus was the brawn and Gaea the brains. When Krontos and Gaea gathered the minor gods and goddesses who had a grudge on Olympus to fight for them, I joined them. Actually I was more pressed into service. It took me forever to realize that Gaea's plan was hurting innocent people and that it was wrong. I betrayed Gaia, Uranus, and Kronos at the Battle of Manhattan by unleashing my fire magic to their monsters and using charm speak to will others to do the same. It took out a good section of the west rank. Then I ran away before Gaea could sic the monsters on me.

"After the Battle of Manhattan was won, I returned to Olympus for my trial and punishment. Zeus realized that I didn't want to be on the opposition, and he allowed me to go as long as I could find another approved god to be my companion. Hermes took me in and allowed me to become his apprentice. During my trips back and forth from the Underworld doing work for Hermes, I met you. I spent a lot of time with you, thinking you were a young goddess. You named me Michel and told me the name you wanted to have, Ursa."

"Wait," I interrupted his story, "there is no way I named myself Ursa."

"You did." Michel said, lost in a dreamland, "You wanted to be a star, so when I told you about Ursa Major you adopted Ursa as your name. I named you Squirt because it annoyed you so much. I visited you for the longest time until I came once and was told that you had disappeared and couldn't be found anywhere. I scowered the Underworld, but I couldn't find you. Then I just went on with my life until you came. From the first moment I saw you I pondered on how much you looked like Squirt. I guess I know why now, don't I?"

I smiled broadly at Michel, my blush fading away. I felt so...so_ happy_, even though I was trapped in here. Even trapped in this quest. Happiness was a feeling I hadn't had in a while. It felt nice.

"So... it doesn't look like Ilya's going to open the door anytime soon..." I mumbled. It was true; I could hear Ilya's snores on the other side of the door.

They reminded me of how tired I was. I pressed myself up against the wall slowly sliding down to avoid hurting myself.

I feel back asleep with my head leaning on Michel's chest.

Something told me that I had been, or will be, in this position again.

**A/N: I am soooooo sorry I was gone so long! I got writers block, plot bunny problems, book obsessions, summer laziness, and computer problems! Good news is I got a laptop! Hopefully with him (his name is Bob) I will update faster. **

**I have more good news! Only two chapters left! Well, planned chapters anyways. I hope this one was OK. I had to add Ilya's and Michel's pasts. I will be writing another story after this, (I look forward to that!) so don't give up on me once this is finished! I will not be doing the authors letters, but anyone who wants to can do that. I hope this chapter had the romance and monster attacks people wanted. I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't figure out how to see the results of the poll so I had to ask my friends and them calculate percents. (OK, fine, I did no math. They both wanted the same thing.) Anyway, I hope it was good.**

**I need to thank you guys for sticking around even though I've been gone so long. I don't know how updating is going to go seeing as school is going to start pretty soon. (Fine a month, but I got my school supply list so it's soon to me!) **

**Wow. This turned out long. **

**One more thing. I want to change my summery, put a character on the character list, and also have my genre be something other that General. But I have no ideas. Can you viewers please help? I can't PM so you'd have to send it to me in a review, but I'll tell you if I use it. Thank you for your loyalty!**

**I have a quote today!**

_**"Life is like a box of chocolates. It ends faster for fat people."**_

**Isn't that rude! Honestly I laughed when I first read it despite the rudeness. I don't even know where it came from!**

**Anyway... bye!**


	16. Chapter 15

"So... what do we do now?"

It was good question. We, after so long, have made it to the Pacific ocean. The sound of the waves thumping against the rocks is our proof. But Percy is no where to be found.

I guess I should back up to the hotel. I woke up with my head on Michel's lap, still sitting in the closet. Once I woke, me and Michel worked together to pry the hinges off the door, using my knives and a crowbar he managed to conjure up. We weren't silent during that time like we would have been the other day. Michel told me about the things I used to do when I was little, including the time I "snuck" into the Fields of Punishment, (more likely Hades put me there, since this was when he hated me), and was found chucking fruit at Tantalus. He told me I laughed when the fruit turned away from Tantalus and fell into a lava pit. 'Good times' he said.

Once the hinges were off I planned to strangle Ilya with a fruit vine for embarrassing me last night. But since she made breakfast I settled for a Bat-glare*. During breakfast Michel told Ilya his story. He had a surprising amount of confidence during his speech. Ilya took it fairly well, not saying anything until the end of the story.

"Well, that's just as strange as all our stories. I really shouldn't be surprised." she finally commented.

We got out of the hotel very quickly. And this has _nothing _to do with the fact that a Cyclops stormed the lobby. Lets just say we had to leave a big tip.

But now here we are staring at the Pacific ocean, Percy no where within our eye of sight.

I sighed. "I have no idea, " I answered Ilya's question. I sat down on the sand, shoveling grains of sand onto my pants to busy myself. "I'm never going to get to go back to camp now."

I was losing hope. I was about ready to suggest going to Camp Jupiter when Michel snapped.

His head popped up as he snapped his fingers. "I got it! That's what the square's for!"

"Umm..." Ilya waved her hand in front of Michel's face, "what square?"

He pulled a tiny square out of his pocket. It was small enough to fit comfortably in the palm of his hand and in most pockets. It seemed to be made of the nylon that they make parachutes with. It had a thread with a ring at the end, much like the parachutes in cartoons. I couldn't see how that can help us.

"Hermes gave it to me a long time ago. If you have a problem that involves traveling, shopping, or mail you can pull on the string and they give you what you need. We don't know where Percy is, but we're at the initial destination... don't you think this is travel related? Maybe what's in here can lead us to Percy!"

_You know... that's a great idea! Maybe we can make it to Percy! Then I can go back to camp and try to live a normal life... well as normal as a demigod's can be. Then Annabeth will not be out to get me, everyone's suspicions will be settled and we can avoid any wars!_

_ Or, it won't work, I'll have to fend for myself outside Camp Half-blood with monsters chasing me since I'm probably the only homeless, reachable demigod._

That's what happens when I try to show my optimistic side.

"Do it!" Ilya and I responded, our voices synchronizing.

Michel pulled the string. The little bag spit out goggles, flippers, air tank, mask; things used for scuba diving. Then the nylon square turned into a completely white scuba outfit. A small note was tucked into a pocket on the suit.

Thank you for buying the Hermes packaging unit! Your package contains enough scuba gear for one person, including one full air tank, worth one hour of air. This scuba suit is completely water proof, guaranteed to insulated all body heat, can withstand any water pressure, almost impossible to tear, and will automatically start to float to the surface of the water if you start to run out of air! It even has a tracking device to allow you to find the thing you need! Treasure, ship wrecks, ice flows... all within your reach with Hermes' scuba gear! If you see results, call Hermes Co. at 187-0034. Enjoy!

"Well... at least it has a tracking device." I smiled sheepishly after my comment. For some reason the square thought we need scuba gear. What we_ need _is something to find Percy with!

Then my ADHD mind flitted back to the prophecy.

_Do you see?_

_I sea_

_You will find the truth_

_And the friend_

_At Pacific's _**roots.**

"I got it!" I burst out, startling Ilya and Michel who were looking at the scuba gear. "The prophecy said Pacific's _roots_. That means Percy's at the bottom of the Pacific ocean! All we have to do is go get him."

"Actually," Michel butted in, "only one person can go to get him. There is only one suit."

Ilya made the decision on who was going for us. "You should do it Cathy. This is obviously your quest."

I really couldn't argue with her. This really is my quest, as much as I wish other wise.

So I slid the suit over my clothes (why not, it said it was water proof) and had Ilya attach the air tank. I slid the goggles on and switched the microphone that was attached to the mask on.

"This is heavy." I commented, watching Michel laugh as Ilya jumped on the air tank. "What's in this thing?"

I was ready to get in the water within a few minutes. I uncovered my fingers and touched the water. Cold. Not like I should feel it through the suit, but still. I hesitated before putting my foot (now flipper) in.

I need to explain how I feel about water. I don't hate it, nor do I feel Poseidon hates me. But I feel like I'm out of my element when I step in it. I'm not scared of it at all, just a little uneasy in it.

So you should be able to imagine how I feel going into Poseidon's domain. Awkward, jittery, and, OK, scared. But there was no doubt, well fine there is a lot of doubt, that Percy's in there. But it's our best guess and our only lead.

I walked out until the water reached my neck. The suit kept all wetness away from me but I swear I could feel the water on my skin. Turning my head from the bright sun that's at it's peak of height I looked at my friends. Michel is waving and Ilya is shouting 'Good Luck!' at the top of her lungs. I smiled, resisting the urge to climb out of the water.

"Don't let the monsters bite!" I shouted to them before I switched the air on and dived into the water.

With the water whishing in front of me it was hard to remember I could breathe. Taking a few deep breaths I opened up the GPS slot in the upper left pocket of my suit. I probably should have done it before coming in here, but this was good enough. Well, at least it was before I realized that the GPS wasn't water proof.

"Crud." I whispered on instinct. Since I had no idea where to go, I just swam around, looking for any signs of a teenage boy who can breathe underwater. There were none.

I was running out of air. I had approximately 15 minutes left.

"Ugg..."

I was losing time, and I still don't know where Percy is, never less getting him out.

"Is there anyone who can help me find Percy?" I shouted through my microphone. Silence throughout the ocean.

'_K, that was stupid._

I suddenly heard the swishing of fins and the call of dolphins. It didn't take long for a dolphin to appear in front of my face, it's small eye gazing at me.

_**Cathy, **_A voice echoed in my mind. _I thought sea animals only spoke to children of Poseidon? Also that voice could not be a dolphin, even though it sounds feminine. _

_**Grab on.**_

A dolphin had extended its dorsal fin toward me. I reluctantly climbed on, my mind really thinking about how to get to Percy.

The dolphins swam so fast I nearly fell off. Even though I couldn't see them, I imagined my knuckles were white from gripping to the dolphin so hard. We jumped out of the water a few times. I used the sun to tell what time it was and looked south, expecting to see land. I saw none.

Thank the gods we stopped. I was about to get seasick. The dolphins turned to leave.

"Thank you!" I shouted to them. One of the dolphins turned to me and...winked I think. Then the dolphins were gone.

I turned to examine where I was.

It was almost an underwater cove. There were large limestone walls with oysters scattered around. Multicolored fish were swimming around gracefully and algae was rippling to the underwater current. But I could see the cave had split of from an underwater volcano, which explained the fact that the ground was warm to the touch. There were pilled rocks sitting in the corners housing plankton and algae. It should have been impossible to see anything since sun couldn't reach down here. But there was a large source of light that the fish seemed to worship. It was actually a small source of light, probably only a room big, that was reflecting off glinting crystals that I now noticed were all over the cave.

Dodging the fish, I maneuvered over to the room full of light. No fish were as close as I was to the light, and it looked like one fish was beckoning me away. But that room could very well hold Percy. So I prepared myself (though what else was there to prepare for after seeing some of the monsters us demigods are blessed with?) to step in the room.

I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

I brushed away a wall of algae that was seemingly tightening up against me and stomped toward the light, covering my eyes to avoid being blinded.

When I walked in I almost died. Literally. Light blinded my eyes and invaded my senses. A horrible, unrecognizable image burned its self in my mind, not to be shaken away. I could be mistaken, but I felt like I was being boiled.

I closed my eyes just in time. I managed to block the image until the light went out, and then looked in front of me.

It was a person. He had blond hair, blue eyes and was carrying a conch horn. He looked in his twenties with a surfer outfit on and a shark tooth necklace. There were waves curling around his flip-flopped feet allowing him to be lifted of the ground. He smiled at me, his pearly white teeth making me choke.

"Ah, Cathy, is it? Hera told me to find you. Well? Come on." he said.

_Hera? What does Hera have to do with the disappearing of Percy? And who it this cheap shot? And that strange light? Oh wait, he must be a god. That light was his godly form. Thank the gods I didn't look at it to long. _

I decided to follow him.

"Who are you?" I asked after some vines parted when he glared at them.

"Triton, announcer of Poseidon at your service." he replied sarcastically. "How do you not know who I am?"

"Not many people do," a voice said, "that's why I need you."

It was Hera. She was standing in front of us, in a long white dress that almost touched the ground. Petite ballet slippers were on her tiny feet which laid flat on the boiling floor. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was the core of the volcano. I could hear minor disturbances from below, the kind of disturbances only a volcano can make.

"Lady Hera," I bowed in respect. "I've been looking everywhere for Percy and I was hoping you could help me find... Percy!"

Hera had stepped aside showing Percy trapped in block of ice. His eyes were closed like he was sleeping; there was no terror of a goddess sneaking into your room at night. He was still in his Camp Half-blood t-shirt and he had his necklace still threaded around his neck. I could bet his sword was still in his pocket too.

I ran up to the ice despite the bubbling of lava that I could hear below. I tapped on the ice, then resorted to outright banging. I was about to unsheathe my knives when Hera's voice distracted me.

"Triton, you are dismissed."

Triton has slid out of the room soundlessly.

"Cathy, come here." I sadly walked away from Percy and started to throw questions at Hera.

"What's Percy doing here? Why are you here? What's going on? Can I take Percy with me? Why..."

"Listen, so I can answer your questions." Hera snapped. "Percy's here because he's part of an exchange needed to connect the Greeks and the Romans. He is one of three champions. He can't go back to Camp Half-blood until the right time. I'm not actually here. I got caught in a trap set by one of the Titians and am waiting to be freed. This is just a small part of my godly essence. _You _are here because there are other places that need to be connected, just like the two demigod camps. There are other worlds, Cathy. These worlds need to be connected, or some will fall prey to the influence of their evils."

"You are to be my third champion. Using the remains of Kronos' time magic, I have created a portal that will allow you to travel through time and space."

As she spoke a swirling blue portal appeared next to her. It was deep, but it gave no clue to where it led.

"In each world you will learn a lesson, spread a lesson, and over come a challenge. Once you do all these things the portal will open and lead you to the next world. You will not be able to leave until you do all those things. Once you go through all of the worlds you need to unite, you will be led back to this world. Understand?"

I opened my mouth to say I _didn't_ understand, but Hera did not let me speak.

"My time to talk is short, and this is the only time I will be able to speak to you. But there is one more thing. Unlike with Percy and Jason, I will give you a choice. You can go to these worlds and face the challenges that lay ahead or you can try to complete your original quest.

"If you decide to face the challenges of the worlds just leave with out Percy; the portal will automatically come for you. If you want to stay, try to get Percy before volcano erupts. I wish you luck whatever your choice."

Hera shimmered and evaporated, much like a mirage, leaving me to ponder what she said.

_Go through the other worlds, or get Percy and leave. She made the choice sound so easy. Though knowing Hera and her trickery she's going to get what she wants either way._

Hearing the ground sizzle and pop broke me out of my thoughts. Percy was still trapped in the ice, which was being melted into the molten lava that was steadily rising up. It covered the bottom of the ice, making it impossible to lift up. I know because I tried. Using my knives didn't work either. Rumbling was penetrating the room now, lava rising up against the walls, making it look ready to pop. Carving at Percy wasn't working, and was only getting the suit covered in hardened lava.

I made a decision. Percy would survive this, being a son of Poseidon. I wouldn't.

_Looks like Hera's going to get her way. There is no way I can get Percy and get out of here alive._

The lava climbed up Percy and grabbed my feet. The air gauge beeped and the air stopped flowing in the mask. I used my knives to stab the lava clutching my feet. It didn't work so I tried to rip my feet out of the flippers. The flotation devices on the suit activated, slowly pulling me up. My feet were still stuck in the lava that had now covered Percy's head. I ripped my feet ungraciously out of the flippers and I finally started floating up. I was heading slowly, but steadily up out of an opening and the top of the volcano.

Suddenly lava burst upward, infulging me and my suit. Everything was covered with the suit, saving me from burns, except for my foot. I was able to yank it in before I suffered any third degree burns. But I lost precious air in the process. I was sure I was going to die of heat when the rock behind me hardened. I didn't question it and started ripping my body out of the shell of magma surrounding me. I swam flipper less as the flotation devices lifted me upward.

Spots danced in front of my eyes as I started to pass out. I couldn't make it any longer without air. I exhaled and inhaled water, eyes closed. But I didn't feel like I was choking or dieing.

_Wait... I'm inhaling air!_

I opened my eyes and looked around.

_I'm at the surface._

Safe at the surface of the water, I started slowly doing the back float towards shore. It didn't take as long to get there as I suspected. Michel and Ilya were waiting for me on shore. Ilya came to help me out of the water. As soon as my shaky legs made it to the sand, I collapsed. Ilya pried what happened out of me while I ate some ambrosia.

"So... since you couldn't get Percy you are going to be forced to go through random worlds 'uniting' people?" Ilya's voice wavered.

"She told me if I could get Percy I could go back to Camp Half-blood and live a demigod life. If I couldn't do it then the portal would follow me around. Waiting for me to go in."

"You could just not go in." Michel pointed out, packing the bags. "As far as we know the portal can't force you to go in."

"Yeah, but if I can't go back to Camp Half-blood and monsters will chase me in the mortal world I have no where to go anyway. Plus how do I know that the portal won't suck me in?"

"You don't." Ilya repeated sadly.

"Maybe I should do it. We don't need more wars, but we could use some help. Maybe there is a world out there that can help us." I pondered.

"But it's just as likely that we will only run into worlds that need help, not ones that can help us." Michel leveled the facts.

There was nothing else to say. I was just going to have to decide what to do.

_I'm aware of the dangers, but I have to do it. For my sake, the sake of the worlds, and for the sake of the person to inherit my post if I manage to get out of it. There is no way Hera would give up after only one failure. _

The look on my face must have gave my decision away.

Tears on Ilya's face, she ran over and gave me a bear hug. Gods was I going to miss her. "I'll miss you." I whispered.

"But you'll come back." she whispered back, tried to fill in that awkward silence. "I believe you will. I know you will."

Michel and me looked at each other. Neither of us believed I would get back alive. This is the last I would get of him.

"Cathy, I have something for you." A brown backpack came from behind his back. "It's a travel backpack. No matter what you put in it it'll never get heavy and it has the most pockets than I have ever seen in a backpack. Remember me when you see it," his voice had dropped to a whisper.

I hugged Michel just like I did Ilya. "I'll miss you Mikey," I whispered.

"See-ya on the other side Squint."

As soon as I left his arms, the blue swirling portal appeared next to me. Now that I was looking closer I could see it spun at a point with blue and black weaving in and out of it. A piece of bark flew out of it, landing in the sand. The bark's message was:

Tελευταία επιλογή, τελευταία επιλογή, τελευταίος τρόπος μας. Πάρτε αυτό ως προειδοποίησή σας: μόλις αρχίσετε, δεν θα είστε σε θέση να σταματήσετε. Ο κύκλος θα συνεχιστεί έως ότου πηγαίνει πλήρης κύκλος. Ή μέχρι τις ημέρες σας είναι επάνω.

"Um..." Ilya read over my shoulder, "What's it mean? I've never been the best at Greek."

"It says," Michel butted in, "Last option, last choice, last way out. Take this as your warning: once you start, you won't be able to stop. The cycle with continue until it goes full circle. Or until your days are up."

"Wait." I interrupted, taking all the unnecessary words out of the message, "If I go in I won't be able to get back until I'm finished?"

_So it's a do it or die trying._

"Does that change your decision?" Ilya question hopefully.

I slid the bark into my pocket. "No. I guess it doesn't."

My last look at my friends was the expression of resolution on Michel and the concealed fear on Ilya's face as I jumped into the portal.

There's no going back now.

*** Bat-glaring is a Young Justice thing. Batman glares at people a lot, so a really scary glare is called a Bat-glare.**

** A/N: Let me start with: I'm sorry this is late and so overdue.**

** Honestly I'm being lazy. I won't let it happen again. (Oh No! What if I just jinxed myself!)**

** Now, next. Not very many of you seem very much like you want to help me (seeing as that you haven't answered any of my other questions). No, I didn't say that to make you guilty. The point is I'm still going to ask you to submit any worlds that you want Ilya to travel to (as long as they are a real book series/TV show). All you need to do is tell me what the name of the book/TV show is and give me one main character. Then I will try my best with what I get. I do have some ideas of my own though…**

** Man, I'm going to make Cathy suffer.**

** Oh, Gosh! I forgot, I'm planning on posting a new story (more like a plot bunny that invaded my mind) since I've become very attached to it. Please, go to my file and check it out. **

** Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed and added to me to your favorites list, especially TFKyra who told me that she was going to sit in front of her computer until I updated. Next chapter is the last one!**

** (P.S. Even if there is another chapter after this and even if my story is finished, I will still except worlds! So review!) **


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: This chapter takes place the night after Jason, Piper and Leo leave for their quest. Also, for anyone who has not read TLH or SoN be warned... there are spoilers for Hera's plans.**

The world was dark. I could see nothing, only hear. There was a low growling surrounding the area. I do not want to tangle with whatever's making that sound. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, I could see green foliage. There was a large pit filled with... Tabasco sauce?... next to me. The smell made my eyes water.

I walked slowly and cautiously north. I made little sound as I walked through the woods that surrounded me. I emerged in a garden, identical to the one in Camp Half-blood*****. A person was sitting on a rock, head in her hands. It was Annabeth.

_I'm not in a different world, I'm at Camp Half-blood!_

For some reason the portal thinks I'm not done here. So it places me alone, in the forest with the person who wants to kill me.

_Great._

I stood there and watched Annabeth for a while, not sure what to do. For the first time I thought about how she must feel.

_Her boyfriend just disappeared in the middle of the night. She doesn't even know if he's alive or dead. I shouldn't blame her for thinking it was my fault, after everything that I had let slip. I shouldn't blame her for freaking out on me._

"How does this all connect?" Annabeth whispered, slamming her fist into the rock. "How does it?"

Suddenly the only thing I wanted to do was to comfort Annabeth and tell her every thing I knew about Percy.

_I can't tell her everything, but I can tell her Percy's alive. If only I could get closer to her without her trying to kill me..._

That's when I got an awesome idea. I pulled out Aphrodite's gift, the small, circular disk. I pressed the tiny white button that blends in with the rest of the disk. The disk popped open show a little pop open mirror. My face was reflected back to me, making me scowl at my reflection.

My hair was sprinkled with sand along with my chin and forehead. I still had pale skin even though I was in California for a few days. Black and stringy hair still went to my shoulder, thank gods, although it was very dirty.

As I looked in the mirror my face started to change. My hazel eyes went a shade brighter, my skin from pale to peach. Black hair turned pitch black and grew to slightly below my shoulder. All signs of sand vanished leaving blemish free skin.

My clothes changed too giving me white caprices, shinny red Nike shoes, clean bra and purple stripped halter top, a red jacket that cut off at my elbow with a lace collar. My ears were pierced and adorned with silver studs, and my white caprices had a jangly golden belt woven through. The brown backpack was still stationary on my back. Licking my lips I could feel lip gloss. Yep, a new me.

But an_ unrecognizable _new me. I daintily walked over like the Aphrodite girls would and plopped down next to Annabeth.

Putting my arm around her shoulder I whispered, "Don't cry darlin', don't cry."

Annabeth popped up, instantly alert. Her dagger was at my throat in an instant.

"Mmm, mmm," I hummed, trying to fake a southern accent. "There's no need for violence."

"Who are you?" her voice only sounded a little strained, like she was trying to put herself back together. Annabeth slid her knife back into its sheath.

"It's me, Sherry," I made up, keeping my southern drawl. "I'm new at camp, so it makes sense you don't know me. But this is about you, not me. I understand your boyfriend went missing."

She nodded, the solitary tear tracks she made were gone. "Now I have to lead camp, and with the new demigods Jason, Piper and Leo going on a quest I don't know what to think. What if they're connected?"

_Jason? Leo, Piper? Didn't Hera mention a Jason? Is he the second champion? Wasn't he the boy that Ilya ran into at the Roman camp? Wait... Oh, that's how Hera is going to connect the camps. Percy and Jason switching places is a great idea, I'll give her that. _

"I don't know what to say, friend. If they are connected we are going to have problems. I need to tell you something. I think I know where Percy is."

Annabeth's head snapped up again, glaring at me. I could see the gears working in her mind. "What do you know?"

_I have to be careful._ "Well," I stretched the word out, "if the capturer wanted to hurt Percy, he could have already killed him. We only know for sure he's missing. If he was trying to escape, or if he was going dormant, you'd think he'd use his powers. I did hear of a volcanic eruption in the Pacific ocean recently. Maybe he was involved..."

"And if he was we have proof he's alive and a lead on where his is!" Annabeth got the biggest smile on her face that I've seen since Percy went missing.

I played with my pitch black hair like an Aphrodite kid would while Annabeth sprouted ideas on Percy's location. I studied my hair to see it slowly shrinking.

"Um... gottogo!" I shouted forgetting the drawl in my hurry. I dashed of into the forest as my skin went pale and my eyes turned my normal color.

"Wait!" Annabeth screamed, as I turned a corner. Before I knew it I was pressing my back against a tree in the dark, hoping Annabeth would pass me.

She wasn't running as she went by. She was scanning every inch of the terrain around her. Annabeth gave no signs of her seeing me. She was just about past me when a small shard of light bounced off the golden belt and lit up the area. I could clearly see the look on Annabeth's face when she found out it was me. I didn't need to see the knife that was being speared at me. I could tell it was coming.

I pushed off from the tree and stumbled deeper into the woods. I could hear the footsteps of pursuit as I broke into a run.

_Stupid light. If only it hadn't come. Wait... what would give off light in the middle of the woods? The portal!_

I searched for the bluish light of the portal. It was hidden in a high tree. I unsheathed my knives and dug them in the tree as grips.

_I hope I'm not injuring any tree nymphs. They would just let that happen without some form of defense._

I made it to the first branch by the time Annabeth came into my line of sight. I could see the portal right above me.

Annabeth was still running toward me at the speed of light. I franticly started pulling myself up the branches. Leaves were sticking to my new outfit, but I couldn't think to care. My hand-made knife grips were slipping out of my hands. I made it to the branch below the portal, when I heard a shout.

I looked down scanning the trees. It was Annabeth. She was shouting at the top of her lungs, but it was hard to hear up here.

"Thanks Cathy!" she was getting the barest hint of a grin on her face even while trying to school her expression. "Thank you for telling me!"

I beamed down at her, glad we finally made up. As much as I wanted to stay, I had to keep going. I slid up the last branch making Annabeth shout at me to come down. I could see the familiar glint of the portal up ahead.

Blue light swallowed me as I jumped up into the portal.

This was my last chance to stay back in this world. Why did I pass it up?

Even I don't know why. It's like... like I had to do this. Like it's my destiny.

Maybe it is. I know for sure that the Fates haven't been kind to me, and don't plan to be kind to me for the rest of my life. This twisted up mission could very well be my destiny.

I am never going to live a normal life. Not even normal by demigod standers. I'm sure I didn't know that when I went in the portal. I don't think I even know that now.

But it doesn't matter anymore. What matters is what I threw myself into. If I knew what was going to happen when I jumped into the portal, I may not have done it.

But I did get many friends and family. I learned what it's like to have parents, and to live in a house, not an orphanage.

I went through tough times, though. Hard challenges, many deaths... I even killed some myself...

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm glad you read this. Maybe some of you more dense people out there are starting to realize that this stuff is for _real_. Maybe some of you are starting to realize that I basically sentenced myself to death. Actually I did...

I am Cathy Robingale, and my story is not even close to being over. It's only started.

Welcome to my world... no wait,... world_**s**_.

It was nice knowing you.

The End.

_This is just the beginning... _

***There really wasn't a garden in Camp Half-blood, I invented it for this story. Sorry for confusion.**

**A/N: Well... what do you say after that?**

** I don't think this was my best work... except for the end. I like that part. It was fun to write. Do you like my The End? It was getting clichéd to put a question mark at the end, and I thought crossing it out was better.**

** Since the sequels are going to go in a lot of crossover categories, I'll post the location of the next story in a chapter after this one. Although the story is technically complete, I won't post it as that until the sequel is up.**

** I'm going to name this series The Cathy Chronicles. Do you like my name?**

** DFTBA(AR) (Don't Forget to be Awesome [and Review])**

** -fanficfantasies**


	18. Note to all fan fiction readers

**Note to all fanfiction readers: I'm sorry, this should have been put up months ago. I do have the first two chapters of The Bane of the Gods up. But before any of you go and read it (if any of you people are still left) please hear me out.**

**I'm putting this series on hiatus. Before I get reviews yelling at me (of course this is if you people are still there), let me explain. I want this story to reach its full potential, and I've realized within the past month that I'm not prepared to write this to its full potential yet. I want to improve my writing before I continue this. I'm going to do this by writing lots of small one shots, two shots, or song fics in different styles so I can improve my technique. It's easier for me when I write as inspiration strikes me.**

**To anyone who's read Why Wasn't I Informed, I'M NOT GOING TO STOP WRITING THAT. I feel that it's going along very well, and I'd like to see if I can continue it. Updates will probably only come once in a blue moon.**

**I'm not going to delete anything unless I absolutely have to. _Please_ keep reading my writing. I promise that if I get better and think I can write this again that I will. Sorry if this upsets you.**

**THANK YOU EVERYONE!**

**-fanficfantasies **


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